A Dream Come True
by tailslover666
Summary: COMPLETE! Sonic starts having stange and horrifying visions involving Tails' death now it's a race against time to save him!PROWERFIC!
1. The First Of Many

**A Dream Come True...**

_O.k. Before I start, I would just like to give whoever is reading this some important information..._

_**WARNING: You WILL need a sandwich or something, as this story is over 76 pages long on Word!**_

_**ADVISED FOR PEOPLE OF AGE 12 OR OVER!**_

_**I own nothing except for Carla and Aurora (You probably already know that though!)**_

_**So here we go!**_

Sonic awoke with a start and felt the cold sweat covering his body-his fur was damp and uncomfortable. It was just beginning to get light outside and Sonic looked at his clock.

"6:35..." Sonic sighed to himself. "Now I'll never get back to sleep."

Having realised this, he decided that he would go for a morning run to start the day so as soon as he had gotten dressed, (put his sneakers and gloves on) he opened the front door. He stopped for a moment and looked around. Everything appeared normal so why did he still feel a wave of fear wash over him?

It was then that he saw Tails, he was crawling towards Sonic feebly and he was covered in blood.

"Please...stay there Aunt Sal...Sally..." Tails groaned. His voice was merely a whisper but Sonic could still hear the agony and fear in Tails' cry.

"Its...Its a trap...stay there..." His voice trailed off as he fell onto his face. Sonic saw his body lying lifelessly as he watched Tails fight for each breath...

Suddenly, Sonic woke from his trance like state. He tried to push the remains of the previous night's dream he had had out of his mind.

Although he had no idea as to why opening his front door had caused part of his nightmare to flood back to him, he still sensed that something wasn't right.

He decided to head over to Tails' hut. He sped over at a super sonic speed noticing as soon as he got there that Tails' door was ajar.

Sonic panicked, thoughts of Tails crawling towards him were in his mind as he sped inside the hut.

"Sonic?" A voice from his right made Sonic jump. It was Tails.

"Oh Jeez Tails!-I thought that...I just..." His voice trailed off as he hugged Tails with all his might, nearly knocking Tails over.

"Whatssup?!" Tails asked worriedly. Had Sonic gone crazy?!

"Oh it's nothing now...It doesn't matter." Sonic replied, visibly mellowing. "I just came to tell you that me, Sal, Bun, Rotor and Ant are going to the ring pool soon and I was wonderin' if ya' wanted to come." Sonic hurriedly thought up.

"Sure Sonic! I'll get my stuff!" Replied Tails excitedly.

"O.k lil' bro. You go get ready and I'll go and gather up the others. Meet us at the ring pool A.S.A.P o.k?"

"Yep!" Sonic heard the fox reply as he sped of again. Little did he know that that was the last conversation he would have with his 'lil' bro' for a very long time...

_So, what did you think? I had this whole story up here as a one shot a while ago but it was so long that no one could be bothered to read it! So here it is in bite-size pieces for you so you had better get reviewing!_


	2. Coincidence?

Thanks to all reviewers of this, and my other five stories too. You've really made my day!

_Anyhow,, here's chapter two for your enjoyment. I hope you like it! Next update will be soon so keep reviewing this one! xxx_

CHAPTER TWO: COINCIDENCE?

As they all gathered at the ring pool waiting for Tails' arrival, Sally watched over them all chatting amongst themselves.

Her eyes fell on Sonic who was sat alone at the edge of the pool. He was staring off into space, lost in thought. She kept watching him quietly until he quickly jumped to his feet, his eyes were tearful and the quills on his back raised as most animals' fur does when they feel scared or threatened.

"Sonic?! What's the matter?!" Sally asked as she rushed up to him and embraced the shaking hedgehog.

"It's the dream..." Sonic mumbled. "The dream..." He said again between shivers.

"Sit down and tell me all about it." Sally calmly said as she tugged at the hedgehog to make him sit.

By this time, everyone else had gathered round upon noticing the state Sonic was in. They were eager to hear what had upset him so much.

"Last night," Sonic started as he calmed down slightly. "I had a nightmare and I couldn't remember it as soon as I woke up. But when I went outside, part of it came back into my mind..." He trailed off.

"What did ya' rememba' Suga-hog?" Bunnie coaxed.

"You don't want to know-it was gross. It was all about Tails. It was terrible!" Sonic paused for breath. "And then jus' now, I remembered some more. Tails was screaming. It was the worst scream any of us will probably ever hear-and then he was gone." Sonic ended and buried his head into Sally's shoulder as she hugged him.

"It's o.k. It's a dream remember. We would never let anyone or anything do anything to Tails" Sally told him softly.

As soon as Sally had finished speaking, the most terrifying, spine chilling scream came flooding through the forest. It was a scream instantly recognisable to all of them.

"Oh my God-my baby!!!" Screamed Sally as she began to dash into the forest in the direction of the screams. She soon noticed that Sonic wasn't following and turned to see him rooted to he spot.

"Sonic! Come on! Lets go!!!" She yelled at him.

"Oh God....That's the same scream Sally...the exact same ones from my dream!" Sonic called back to her over his shoulder as he ran into the forest.

He ran and ran in the direction of the screams but he couldn't find anything. The screams then ceased and the forest suddenly went silent. There was no chance that he would find Tails now!!! Slowly, he jogged back to the others to see if they had had any luck. As he approached them, he noticed that they were all huddled around something small at the side of the path. From where Sonic was, he couldn't tell what it was but he could see that it was lying in a large, red pool.

"Is that Tails?!" Sonic made the freedom fighters jump as he raced up to them.

"No, Sonic look." Sally said pointing at the side of the object. Sonic now recognized it. It was Tails' swimming bag covered in blood and it had a huge slash mark down one side.

They all stood staring at it for a while and then dived back as something inside it began to move...

"Sugah fox?!" Bunnie questioned warily.

A Cam-bot slid its way out of the bag and projected a screen towards them. Before any one knew what was happening, a huge, disgustingly ugly picture of Robotnik appeared on the screen.

"Greetings animals of Mobius!" Robotnik's image said.

_So, how was it? I'm in the middle of another story that I haven't put up yet and I might need some fan characters in the future. If you want me to check yours out, please leave it in your review! Thanx!_


	3. Blind Leading The Blind

Greetings again fellow readers! Well here it is, chapter three updated quickly as promised. I'm quite disappointed that I only have a few reviews so far but I guess that's life.Thankyou to you guys that read this fic when it was a one-shot 'Kai The Tiger': I am currently reading your story so keep those updates comig!

_To those of you who are bothering to review, thank you dearly and I will get all of this up for you. Please keep them coming!_

_So let's do it to it! _

Chapter three: Blind Leading The Blind. 

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH TAILS?!!!!" Sonic lurched at the screen before being restrained by Rotor and Antoine.

"Shut up hedge pig! You're little mutant is fine. He's here with me."

"How do we know he's O.k.?!" Sally asked angrily.

"Why...Just take a look for yourself!" Robotnik said as he turned his side of the screen towards a nearby jail cell. The cam-bot focused and they all saw the small fox. He was lying unconscious in the middle of the floor. They couldn't see his face as he had his back to them but they could tell it was him-the two tails were an instant give away. Snively was in there too and he kicked the fox so hard that his body rolled over to face the screen. Only then did they notice the state he was in-his fur was nearly completely drenched in blood and there was a huge gash on his forehead. He had cuts and bruises all over his body.

The freedom fighters were too stunned to speak. They just stared at the screen, willing Tails to be o.k.

"Wake up fox boy!" Snively shouted into Tail's ear as he kicked him again, even harder this time. Tails began to flutter his eyes open and started to sit up until a strong pain in his head made him lie back down. He appeared shocked at the state of himself. He then groaned and raised his hand to his head. He felt the gash and yelped in pain.

"Hey! I said wake up!!" Snively shouted again. "You have visitors." At this, Tails looked around him and noticed the screen to his left.

"Sonic!" Tails called out to him. He went to grab the bars but was shot back against the opposite wall by the electrified bars.

"Robuttnik! Let Tails go NOW!!" Sonic screamed at him again but he knew it would make no difference.

"Why should I when I can have some fun?" Robotnik replied with a laugh. "Snively!-Get the serum!" Snively scuttled out of the cage and a few moments later came back with a syringe.

"Now hedge-pig, I'd like you and your little friends watch as we try out a little test. This is a serum that I am developing that should make anyone who is injected with it so sensitive to sunlight that just seeing day light would make them go blind!"

"Why on Mobius would you want to do that?" Asked a frustrated Rotor.

"Is it too complex for you're feeble brains?-The sky over Robotropolis is so polluted that there is never any sunlight and therefore, if they ever try to escape or if you try and save any of them, they wont be able to leave Robotropolis without going blind!!!" Robotnik burst out laughing.

Sonic and the others turned to look at Tails in fear. After hearing all this, Tails started to cry and shake in terror.

"Hey Tails! Don't let him jab you with that thing-attack him!" Rotor yelled to Tails and he nodded back shakily.

Snively began to advance towards the fox after filling the needle and Tails backed away until he reached the wall. Everyone's attention was now on Snively and Tails as he got closer and closer to the fox. Suddenly, Tails jumped up and kicked Snively in the stomach before running past him and to the other side of the cell. But before he got there, Snively stuck out his leg and tripped up Tails who went flying to the ground.

"Take this you little freak!!!" Snively shouted at Tails as he stabbed him in the back of the neck with the needle. Tails arched his back and after a moment, slowly got to his feet. He suddenly felt very drowsy.

"Tails?..." Sally asked worriedly. Tails didn't reply. He felt really hot and light headed. He thought that he was going to pass out.

"Are you alright hun?" Bunnie asked in case he didn't hear the first time.

She was answered by a deafening scream as Tails suddenly grabbed his head and fell to his knees.

"IM BURNING!!!!!HELP!!!!PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!! SONIC! HELP ME!!" Screamed Tails obviously in agony. Over the screams Robotniks voice boomed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that it may sting a little bit!" he said and burst out in more evil laughter. Snively looked a little unnerved by the fox. He appeared to have gone insane-like his head was going to explode. Snively exited the cell and continued watching from the other side of the bars at the poor kitsune who was still screaming and rolling around on the floor.

"Tails..." Sonic said in quiet disbelief.

"SONIC! PLEASE...FORGIVE ME-IT...JUST HURTS SSSSOOO BBAADDD!!!" Tails managed to scream out between cries as he ran over to the cell wall and hit his head against it as hard as he could to knock himself out. As his body fell to the floor, everyone saw a patch of blood on the wall where Tails hit his head before the cam-bot screen turned to static and went black.

Instinctively, they all turned and ran back to Knothole as fast as they could to form a plan. Once arriving in Sally's hut they broke the silence.

"It must take a lot of guts to knock yourself out like that-it must have hurt like hell!" Sonic said replaying the scene through his mind. He quickly put the thought back out again.

"Heez head iz going ta hurt zo badzly wen e wakez up zo." Antoine commented which didn't really help the situation.

"Any way guys, come on, we need to think of a plan soon-who knows what Buttniks doing to him now!" Sally said firmly to them all.

"Yeah Sal, you're right, we need to get him out of there so-" Sonic was cut off as another dream flash back flooded his mind. Mecha Sonic, various torture tools and bandages flashed before his eyes.

"Sonic?" Sally asked worriedly after seeing the expressions of fear, anguish and worry pass across Sonic's face.

Sonic jumped out of his trance as soon as he heard Sally and hurriedly told her about what he saw.

"I think that dream I had is really happening Sally." He ended.

"Well it may help if you remember some more of it..." She replied trying to sound cheerful.

"I don't want to remember-its too horrible!" Sonic then realized something "Oh my God Sal! What if it all does come true-its gonna be a blood bath and I don't think Tails could survive what Buttnik's gonna do to him!"

"Well we are gonna have t' make sure that your dream doesn' come true then aren't wi Shuga hog?" Bunnie was determined to save Tails.

"I guess were gonna have to try!" Sonic said trying to be optimistic.

"Lets get going with the plan then guys!" Rotor coaxed.

And so they did...

Well there you have it. PLEASE leave a review. Chapter four will be posted as soon as I get some reviews!

Tailslover666 xxx


	4. A Piece Of The Puzzle

Thanks for all your reviews so far, I only got 5 when I posted this up before and now I've beaten my record with only 3 chapters up! YAY!

_To Shade the Hedgehog, believe it or not, I actually am a HUGE fan of da little guy but for some reason, all my fics end up turning out this way…?! Anyhow, keep 'em coming!_

**Chapter Four: A Piece Of The Puzzle.**

Bunnie sat with Sonic in her hut that had been illuminated with candles to provide a peaceful atmosphere. Sonic was sat on the bed and Bunnie was sat on a silk cushion at his feet.

"Alrighty Suga-hog, are ya ready?" Bunnie asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be...are you sure that this is gonna work Bun?" Sonic replied giving a doubtful look to Bunnie.

"We'll jus have t find out wont wi." Bunnie said calmly although on the inside she was praying that it would.

The idea had come from Rotor. He had suggested that Sonic try to remember more of his dream so that they could find out what was going to happen and therefore they could make a better plan. It had sounded good at the time, but now Sonic was having second thoughts. What if he got it wrong? What if he forgot something important? He now lay down on Bunnie's bed and closed his eyes-he tried to relax but there were too many 'what ifs' running around his mind.

Bunnie just sat quietly and watched him as he slowly managed to drift off to sleep and shortly, she watched as his eye lid's began to flicker and jump which told Bunnie that he was dreaming.

During the half-an-hour or so that he was asleep, she noticed several expressions swirl across Sonic's face. She saw concern, fear, shock and finally, anger. He muttered something. It was barely audible but Bunnie was sat close enough to hear Sonic say 'Oh Tails…-what has he done to you?!' At this, Sonic awoke with a start and jumped into a sitting position. He was breathing heavily and staring at the wall opposite from him looking completely distraught.

"What's up Suga-hog? What happened?!" Bunnie asked concerned.

"We've got to go see if Sally and the others have come up with a plan yet." Sonic said hurriedly as he got up and took Bunnie's arm nearly dragging her through the door.

"Why!?-What happened?" Bunnie asked again.

"I'll tell you when we get to the others." He replied. "Lets just say that you wouldn't want to be Tails right now."

Bunnie left it at that and followed Sonic over to the hut where the other Freedom Fighters were gathered, discussing the possibilities of a rescue mission. They all turned as Bunnie and Sonic came in and Sally stopped talking as they took their seats.

"Sally, this is gonna be harder than we first thought." Sonic started.

"Why?" Sally simply asked.

"Because Tails definitely isn't going to be walking out of that place." Sonic replied.

"Pleaz explainz zome morez." Antoine said. He was rather confused about what Sonic meant.

"Start from the beginning. It will be far easier for us to understand then and there will be no confusion." Rotor said, trying to be helpful.

"Um...Well, I remember us all going into a big room-I mean REALLY big, and in the middle of it, Tails was on the floor. He was all tied up-even his tails....except...he hardly looked like Tails anymore. He was so beat up and he was covered in blood...he looked like something else." Sonic paused and gave a little sob. At this, Sally came and comforted him.

"It's O.k. Sonic, go on." She coaxed.

"Well...I don't know exactly how this next bit happened, but when I ran up to him, he sort of flew up into the air really fast."

"How if his tails were tied up?" Asked a puzzled Rotor.

"It wasn't like it was _him _flying, it was more like someone _really _tall pulled him into the air very fast. I couldn't reach him." Sonic tried to explain.

"So, assuming that this information is accurate, how do you propose we get to Tails if he is up in the air?" Sally asked.

"Well, I remember that there was a balcony quite near to him but there's a problem with that." Sonic said.

"What iz diz promblem?" Antoine questioned.

"Buttnik and Snively were stood on it." Replied Sonic simply.

"Maybe I could reach him." Knuckles asked as he entered the hut.

"Where did you come from? and how did you hear what we were talking about?" Sonic asked.

"I _was _up on the Floating Island, but Tails' chaos emerald is going nuts! It showed Buttnik doin' a load of really crazy stuff to Tails. Tails was goin totally loony an' screamin' for Sonic. Then it showed you guys talkin'. I watched you for about 15 minutes then when I realized that all that weird stuff was really happenin', I thought I'd better come down here and tell you to get this plan sorted quickly." Knuckles stated coolly and then finally took a breath.

"What 'crazy stuff'?!" Sally panicked.

"Sal, I think he's tellin' the truth. I saw some bad stuff in my dream too." Sonic answered for Knuckles.

"Well maybe you could go up an' get Suga-fox while we take care of Robotnik." Bunnie said to Knuckles.

"Sure, whatever." he replied.

Come on then everyone. Lets go and get ready." Sally said. At this comment, everyone got up from where they were sitting and walked to the armory. It was very small because they didn't really have many weapons but it served its purpose. When everyone was kitted up, they set off to Robotropolis. It was now the evening of the second day of Tail's capture.


	5. Revelations

So, here I am yet again (I told you I would update quickly!) Sorry about the slight delay between chap 3 and 4 though, I had to go into hospital for an operation on my foot so I'm on crutches now! (Everybody say 'Awwww'!) But here is chapter 5 anyway-keep those wonderful reviews coming!

Chapter Five: Revelations… 

"Right, I'll get you up to date on the situation Sonic since you weren't at most of the meeting." Sally said as they walked quickly onwards.

"The room that you mentioned to us was most likely Robotniks 'Dome'. From information we have gathered, he mainly uses it as a sort of arena-for watching fights between new prototypes he has invented to see how good they are and what skills and weaknesses they have. It is directly in the center of Robotniks base on the third floor. The platform you described is obviously on the forth floor and is directly linked to his Control room. What we plan to do is infiltrate the base and Rotor, Antoine and Bunnie will go to the fourth floor while me, you and Knuckles will enter at the third floor. Our group, 'Group A', will go and get Tails and Bunnie's group, 'Group B', will go to the balcony and stop Robotnik from trying anything stupid." She finished. She was surprised that Sonic had managed to keep quiet and not interrupt throughout her whole speech.

"It's easier said than done Sal..." Sonic finally replied. He seemed lost in thought.

"Yes...I know Sonic." Sally said, she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You know, I'd like it a whole lot more if you didn't have to see the things that are gonna be waitin' for us when we get there-it even scares me..."

"We are just going to have to prepare ourselves as best we can." Sighed Sally. She was touched that he actually cared about her.

"What are we gonna do about that serum thing Sal?-I mean, how are we gonna get Tails back to Knothole without him seeing any light?" Sonic then asked.

"Well Suga-hog," Bunnie overheard and answered for Sally. She handed him a bag containing a blindfold and a First-Aid kit. "We have this lil' ol' blindfold here so someone can carry him back."

None of them mentioned what the First-Aid kit was for.

"This is also why we came at night Sonic, but by the time we leave Robotropolis, it may be light so we brought extra precautions." Sally added.

"You've thought of everything then Sal!" Sonic said. She was always so thorough, she never forgot anything-that's why he loved her.

The rest of the journey was mainly silent, everyone was lost in their own thoughts and memories.

Antoine was thinking about where he could hide if there was any trouble.

Rotor was thinking about any forms of technical difficulties (such as pass-codes for doors) that they may experience-anything to keep his mind off Tails.

Bunnie was more of a sentimental creature. She was reminiscing about all the fun times she had watching Sonic and Tails racing through the forest and all the fun times they had together. A tear came to her eye which she promptly wiped away so as not to upset anyone else.

Sally was going through the plan again in her head thinking of all possibilities and outcomes. Her brain wouldn't work properly. Tails was like a son to her-there was an overwhelming mothering instinct flooding her mind and screaming at her to run and get him. She fought to keep her mind focused which worked for the time being.

Knuckles was thinking about all the things that Tail's chaos emerald had displayed to him. He had deliberately played it down to the others. He knew that he had told them that Tails was going nuts and stuff but he didn't say _exactly_ what he saw in the orange surface of the gem. It was indescribable. If they knew what was going on in 'the dome' right now, they probably would have given up on this mission. They would be convinced that Tails would be dead by now. He was in a terrible state when Knuckles last saw him and by now it was sure to be much worse. He didn't know a single _living_ creature that had undergone such torture.

Sonics mind was having more complex problems. He refused to believe the fact that Tails was probably dead or dying at every step they took. He _knew _that his bro would be O.k. He just had to keep focused, get in there and get Tails out as quickly as possible. He prayed that there would be no complications in the plan but then suddenly, yet another piece of his nightmare (which everyone now called 'Sonic's premonition') flashed into his mind. Sonic tried to concentrate on it so that he could see as much as possible therefore gaining as much information on the situation as possible-anything that may help to get Tails back to them-alive.

The others jumped as they saw Sonic freeze mid stride. He gazed off into the forest like he was watching something very far away. Bunnie slowly walked up to him and gazed into his eyes. It was like he was looking right through her.

"Wat iz wronk wit dee edgeog?" Antoine worriedly asked.

"Sally, Suga-hog's seein' somthin' again." Bunnie exclaimed.

"Everyone stay quiet. We don't want to disturb him-he might see something vital towards our plan." Sally instructed.

"We should all sit down and rest until it's over." Rotor added.

"Good idea Rotor." Sally said as everyone went and sat down on the side of the path a little while away from Sonic and Bunnie.

Bunnie had managed to slowly urge Sonic to sit down without disturbing him and was sat with him stroking his hand gently to comfort him. She understood how much these 'flashbacks' (or 'flash-forwards') hurt Sonic as she had seen the emotions that flowed through him. It upset her just to watch his expressions.

After around 10 minutes, Knuckles came over to them.

"Do you mind if I stay with him til he wakes up? I need to speak to him." He whispered to Bunnie.

"Sure Knux-you bedder take gud care of Suga-hog though!" She replied with a giggle.

"Thanks, I'll bring him over soon." Knuckles added.

Bunnie began to stand up but about half way between sitting and standing, she stopped and sat back down.

"Knux...I know that ya' didn't tell us ev'rythin' 'bout Suga-fox's emerald." She started.

"What are you talkin' about?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, ya' see, Iv'e bin watchin' Suga-hog here when he has these dream things and...well..." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Well just look at his face now." She said.

Knuckles looked at Sonics face properly for the first time since he had come and sat down with him and realized that Bunnie was right-his face showed exactly how Knuckles was feeling. It was contorted into several emotions-none of which were good ones. His teeth were gritted and his eyes were clenched shut.

"I see..." Was all Knuckles could say.

"An' sometimes he says lil' things too." She added and as if on cue, Sonic began to mumble. They both gathered nearer to hear what he said.

"Oh God Sal...I dropped him. I can't believe that happened!" He said louder than they expected. It made them jump and they leaned back slightly. Sonic then stood up, eyes wide open and began to run over to Sally but Knuckles grabbed him before he got far.

"Knuckles!!! I dropped him!!!" Sonic screamed at Knuckles.

Knuckles began to drag Sonic further away from the group so as not to scare them further.

"That can't be real! I can't have dropped him!" Sonic continued.

"Listen to me!" Knuckles shouted back. Bunnie ran back to the group to tell Sally what had happened.

"You _are _going to drop him." Knuckles told Sonic as they both sat back down. Sonic was on the verge of tears but held them back.

"What are you talking about? I would NEVER drop Tails-EVER!" Sonic yelled.

"I know that you are going to drop him because I know everything that is happening and is _going _to happen to Tails…-because of this." Knuckles said as he pulled out an orange chaos emerald. It belonged to Tails. Sonic looked at it as it turned from it's usual orange to a deep crimson and then back again.

"Why didn't you tell us then if you know what's going on?" Sonic asked irritatedly.

"You should know why. Afterall, you're totally screwed up and you have only seen a few of the things that are happening. What do you want me to tell them? Do you want me to walk up to Sally and the others and tell them then Tails is being virtually ripped limb from limb as we speak?!-Do you want me to tell them that?!" Knuckles said with an angry tone in his voice.

"I guess not." Sonic mumbled. He felt the shock of it all hit him like he had been whacked with a baseball bat.

"Anyway, what's the point in me telling you? It's going to happen anyway whether we like it or not." He stated bluntly. He seemed to do everything 'bluntly'. It was the way he was.

"What-" Sonic began to ask but was cut off.

"Don't try to ask me what's gonna happen either coz I'm not gonna tell you-I'm not getting you more screwed up than you already are." Knuckles finalized.

"Well at least if I drop him, it means that we actually manage to get him out of there....doesn't it?..." Sonic asked.

"Yes... yes Sonic. We get him out of there." Knuckles replied solemnly.

At that, Knuckles turned and began to walk back to the group who were now panicking.

"Iz you zure dat we shouldz not abortz dis mizzion an come back ven we az a better planz?" Antoine asked Sally in the hope that she might agree.

"Sorry Antoine. No matter what we have to face, we have to get Tails out of there TONIGHT. Every minute counts." She replied.

The freedom fighters looked up expectantly as Knuckles approached closely followed by Sonic.

"C'mon! What are we waiting for?!" Knuckles said so as to avoid questioning.

"What's going on? What happened to you Sonic? What did you see?" Rotor asked.

"It's not important to the mission. Lets go." Sonic replied flatly.

"Are you sure Sonic-any information you may have could give us an advant-" Sally was cut off.

"Listen Sal. I told you. It won't affect us in any way so it doesn't matter-o.k?" Sonic snapped then apologized. "I'm sorry Sal. I didn't mean to shout. It's jus all this is kinda gettin' to me-It'll get to you to once you see it."

"It's alright Sonic, we understand." Sally replied reassuringly.

"O.k. guys! Lets go!" Bunnie cheered loudly, trying to raise moral within the group.

They began to get up and continued their walk/run to Robotropolis. By the time they finally arrived at the out-skirts of the polluted city, it was nearing 3am.

_There you go, another one done. There's going to be twenty chapters in this so I hope you keep interested and keep reviewing-starting now! x_


	6. Operation HedgePig!

Keep those reviews coming! Shade; yes, I am very sadistic but unfortunately, I can't seem to help it! Evil laugh! I really do like Tails but it's just a case of 'tough love' if you get my drift?! Anyway, if I wasn't this evil, this story would be pretty damn boring would it not?

**Chapter Six: Operation Hedge-Pig.**

The group began to creep their way through the maze of alley's. Sally was in front. She had Nicole in her hand, scanning it for any short cuts they could take to give them a better chance to save Tails.

They finally managed to break into Robotnik's fortress with barely any problems-only a handful of SWAT-bots blocked their path with which Sonic disposed of quickly and quietly.

"Which way now Nicole?" Sally asked the tiny computer.

"There is a small vent to your east which could help you to get to Robotnik's 'Dome' without being noticed by any STEALTH-bots or if you just want to get there as quickly as possible, you could just try the elevator due North of your position." Nicole explained.

"Affirmative Nicole." Sally replied as she turned to the others and looked at them for their suggestions.

"Vell I tink ve should take ze ventz." Antoine nervously said.

"Well, I know we want to get to Tails as quickly as possible but we would be no help to Tails if we got caught as well would we so I'm afraid to admit that I agree with Antoine on this occasion." Rotor spoke up.

"That is a wise idea." Knuckles said. He had been silent since he had spoken to Sonic so this comment made Bunnie jump who had forgotten that he was behind her.

"O.k then. As long as no-one has any problems with that idea, we shall go up to level 3 through the vents and then discuss the next section of the plan there." Sally said and began to lead the way through the vent opening which was helpfully near the floor.

"It's gonna be O.k Knuckles isn't it?" Sonic asked as he crawled behind the silent Echidna.

"I'm not saying anything. Just try to think about what needs to be done now. It won't do any good worrying what _might happen _and what_ could _go wrong because I assure you, everyone tries their hardest tonight and no-one can do better than that." Knuckles said trying to reassure Sonic as best he could but still didn't do a very good job.

One reason for this was that he was having a hard time dealing with it all himself-he knew EXACTLY what had happened to the fox in great detail and it really was disgusting. Also, Knuckles just wasn't used to being this nice to people. He preferred to hide his feelings so as not to show others how vulnerable he could be. But he now understood how Sonic was feeling because he felt the same way himself so he had to show some sort of empathy.

They continued onward and upward until they reached the third floor then Sally stopped and turned to the others who were panting; crawling all that way was very hard when you hadn't had much sleep.

"Alright everyone, take a quick breather while I tell you whats going to happen next." She paused and the others slumped as best they could in such a small space as they gasped and panted.

"Right. Team 'B', which I will remind you is Rotor, Antoine and Bunnie, will continue from here up to the next floor and go and distract Robotnik on the balcony which Sonic told us about. I will give you Nicole for directions towards the balcony as it is through a series of other rooms including his Control Center. Team 'A' (Me, Sonic and Knuckles) will continue from here to where Tails is being held in Robotnik's 'Dome'. From then onwards, we will have no contact except from the radio's until we reach the meet up point which is at the main gates of Robotropolis where I will brief you on any mission details or problems that may have occurred so we can deal with them accordingly. Understood teams?" Sally said quite optimistically. She even smiled when she said it for some reason. She wouldn't be smiling if she knew what was going to happen... Sonic and Knuckles both thought at the same time.

"O.k. Sal! Understood! Lets head on out Team 'B'!" Bunnie said and they set off upwards.

"Good Luck you guys!" Rotor called back over his shoulder to Sally and the other two who were left.

After a moment of silence, Knuckles decided to try another attempt at being nice.

"Thanks! You too!" He replied-he could get used to being nice he thought to himself-not too often though, he had a reputation to uphold!

"C'mon then guys, lets get this over with as quickly as possible." Sonic said changing the subject.

"I can't wait to see my baby again!" Sally said almost excitedly.

"So that's why you're so smiley!" Sonic said.

"It's not going to be the same Tails you saw last though unfortunately, 'Ol Buttnik has seen to that." Knuckles said and then just realized that he had officially opened mouth and inserted foot.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT KNUCKLES?! DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING WE DON'T?!" Sally yelled a little too loudly.

"SHHH!!! It doesn't matter now. I'll tell you when we get back." He said slyly-he knew that by that time there would be more important things on their minds so he would get forgotten about all together for the time being.

The group continued on in silence for a while but finally came to a large, silver door which needed a pass-code to open it. Sally turned to Knuckles as she knew that he used to work for Robotnik.

"Er...HEDGEPIG...." He said in an embarrassed tone. Sonic looked mightily annoyed.

"Hedge-pig my blue butt! At least I'm not a fat, ugly, smelly lump of lard like HIM!" Sonic whispered in a tone that could freeze hell over but didn't attract any unwanted attention.

"That's good Sonic-just save up that anger for if we meet any trouble in here." Sally gave the tiniest of giggles as she said this.

She said the pass-code into the small speaker on the wall and the acceptance light on it turned from red to green, showing that the code was correct and the door slowly began to side open with a hissing noise...


	7. Blood On The Dance Floor

Yay! Finally chapter seven is here! Now this is where things start to REALLY heat up! Be warned though, there is a lot of gore in this chapter even though there isn't that much violence. How is that possible?! Well read on and find out!

**Chapter Seven: Blood on The Dance Floor…**

Meanwhile, Team 'B' had reached the entrance to the Control Center and peered around the side of the open door. Robotnik and Snively were currently in there talking.

"Look at that stupid hedgehog and his friends. They actually think they will get their friend out of there ALIVE!" Robotnik said as if it was the most absurd thing he had ever seen. Snively laughed.

"Shall we go and watch their idiotic faces as they see their friend die in front of them? It would be extremely rewarding!" Snively asked hopefully.

"Yes. I believe we should. Good idea Snively." Robotnik replied. Snively practically glowed with happiness and pride at the fact that his master had just praised him. They walked over to a side door which opened as they neared it clearly displaying the balcony overlooking the 'Dome'.

"They're going to that balcony just like Sonic said they would." Rotor said.

"C'mon then. Lets see what they do before makin' our move." Bunnie said quietly.

They followed the two onto the balcony and hid behind some drums of Toxic Waste without alerting any attention. From there they could see everything that happened on the balcony. They could also see all around the 'Dome' as the balcony beneath them was made entirely of thick wire mesh. What they saw was unforgettable...

Sally, Sonic and Knuckles entered the Dome cautiously. Both Sonic and Knuckles felt a strange feeling of De-Ja-Vu.

The room was pitch black except for one lone spotlight in the direct center of it. All their attentions were drawn to it and the bloody mass that lay underneath it. Tail's legs and tails were tied and his arms were both behind his back-also presumably tied. He was curled into a ball, his knees towards his chest and tails wrapped over him like he was trying to protect himself. His eyes stared blankly into space. He appeared not to notice Sonic and the others enter. Both groups stared in disbelief at the poor creature. His entire body seemed to be either cut or bruised-or both, and a large pool of blood surrounded him. The silence in the room was only broken by the sound of Tail's heavy, labored breathing.

A silent tear ran down several of the group's faces which soon stopped as Robotnik spoke.

"I wouldn't go any closer to him if I were you." Was all he said.

"YOU TOTAL, COMPLETE, INSANE, BASTARD!!!!!!!" Sonic SCREAMED as loud as he could when he saw where the voice was coming from.

"Stop it-you flatter me!" Robotnik replied angering the freedom fighters even further.

"I need to get Tails!" Sally said.

Tails who had now realized he was not alone had began crawling towards them. Robotnik laughed at his feeble attempts to drag himself across the floor using just his hands as most of his other bones had been shattered.

"Aunt Sal..Sally. PLEASE...stay its a ....trap!" He managed to croak out but it was too late because Sally had already began running towards him.

Rotor suddenly looked up and saw Snively push a button on the control panel in front of him.

"Now Sir?" He asked.

"No, let her get a bit closer first!" Robotnik replied with an evil grin.

"NOW SNIVELY!" Robotnik boomed moments before Sally managed to reach the coughing figure.

The next few moments happened in a blur to the freedom fighters. There was a large beeping noise and Tails was violently yanked into the air at a high speed. Once he reached around 20 feet, he stopped. It was only when he began grasping at his neck and thrashing his broken body that the others had realized what had just happened.

"OH GOD-HE'S HANGING TAILS!!!!!!!" Rotor screamed and dived at Robotnik and Snively shortly followed by Bunnie and a reluctant Antoine.

Tails was still grabbing at his neck but a little less violently now as his face began to turn purple.

"GO KNUCKLES!-GO!" Sonic yelled and Knuckles started to fly up as fast as he could towards the frantic fox who was swinging back and forth on the rope around his neck.

"What have I done?!" Sally said as her and Sonic looked upwards.

Knuckles soon reached Tails and tried to support his weight to release the pressure from the rope around his neck but Tails was thrashing so much that Knuckles couldn't hold on to him.

"STAY STILL! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!" Knuckles screamed at Tails but he was panicking too much to hear him.

"SONIC! YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO DO-SORRY BRO!" Knuckles yelled back down to Sonic before raising his fist and punching Tails in his already battered face, knocking him unconscious instantly. Knuckles could now hold Tails up a bit but it was very hard whilst in mid air.

"BUNNIE!-KNUCKLES CANT HOLD HIM UP FOR MUCH LONGER-YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND A BUTTON TO LOWER HIM!" Sonic shouted up to Bunnie who had just finished tying Robotnik and Snively up against the drums they had previously hidden behind.

Rotor and Bunnie ran over to the control panel to look for the right button as Knuckles, who couldn't stay up any longer, descended slowly to the ground and lay down on the floor, gasping for breath.

Unfortunately, Tails body was now unsupported and the thin rope suddenly snapped which caused him to plummet towards the ground.

"NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!" Sally screamed out and ran under Tails path before anyone could stop her. She used herself to break his fall although it didn't do much good. Her world went dark for a moment and when she opened her eyes, she saw the others rushing towards her and Tails who was half on top of her, still unconscious.

"Sal?! You O.k?" Sonic asked as they gathered round. Soon, the balcony group arrived through the door.

"I think so, I hurt my arm a bit thats all!" She gave a small laugh.

Sonic gently lifted Tails off her and laid him down as Sally stood up. He touched Tails forehead gently.

"Tails buddy?..." He asked nervously.

Wa Ha HA! Now isn't that a cliff-hanger to end all cliff-hangers?! Review and I MIGHT just consider putting you out of your misery!lol.


	8. Torn Apart

Hi again dear readers! Ok, in one of my reviews, someone said something about there not being much blood etc in the last chapter as promised. Well, that was just the beginning-the next few chapters…well…almost the rest of the story contains more and more nastiness for your consumption. By the time this fic is done, I think you will wish that you hadn't said that! Lol…Here we go…

**Chapter Eight: Torn Apart.**

Tails slowly opened his eyes to hear the others around him. He coughed which sent a trail of blood streaming down the side of his face.

At this sight, the others exchanged worried glances.

"A…aunt…Sally…" Tails groaned as he choked slightly on the blood.

"We're gonna 'av t' lift him up Suga-hog-he's chokin' ther'." Bunnie said.

Sonic agreed and gave a look to Knuckles who gave him a re-assuring look back as if to say it was O.k to do so. Sonic slowly lifted Tails into a sitting position and held him up as they all watched the blood pour freely from his mouth. Tails choking stopped but his breathing was still extremely labored. Suddenly, Tails curled into a ball as best he could to protect himself and began whimpering.

"Pl...please don't let... Sonic…hurt me again...sonic…I didntmean....to do any...anything wrong...I'm sorry…" He croaked.

The others looked at each other in a confused manner except for Knuckles who simply re-assured the fox.

"It's o.k Tails, Sonic won't hurt you. I swear he won't..." He said.

"You…promise?" Tails asked nervously.

"_I _promiselil' bro." Sonic answered instead, still looking confused but playing along any way. He looked at Knuckles who gave him an 'I'll tell you later' look.

"Tha....thanks ' to getme...you guys..." Tails croaked.

"Any time bro." Sonic said and gave him a gentle smile.

"We are going to get you home to Bookshire now honey." Sally told him in a soothing tone although, inside she was worried that the Doctor wouldn't be able to help with this.

Sonic carried him with TOTAL care to the main door of the fortress.

"Now Suga-fox. You are gonna 'av t' put this lil' 'ol blindfold on here coz of that stupid serum-O.k?" Bunnie said as she began to gently place it on him, trying to avoid the more serous cuts and bruises covering his head. Sally applied bandages to his body where she was able to without causing him too much pain-which wasn't many places.

"A...Aunt Bunnie..."Tails trailed off as his eyes closed and his head slumped into Sonic's arm.

"NO TAILS...DONT GO TO SLEEP. YOU CAN SLEEP SOON BRO I SWEAR! JUST KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR NOW." Sonic shouted at Tails who re-opened his eyes a little.

"This is really bad Sal..." Sonic said to her.

"We're just going to have to keep him awake and talk to him." She replied.

"So Tails...when we get home I'm gonna make you the best chilli-dog you've ever eaten!-Sound good lil' bro?" Sonic asked Tails, trying to keep him conscious.

"Mmmmmm..." Tails mumbled drowsily and looked up at Sonic who smiled back at him lovingly.

Once his eyes were covered, there was no way to tell if he was awake or not so as they set off, more worried glances were exchanged.

"Tails honey? You are gonna have to keep talking to us so you don't fall asleep O.k because we can't tell if you are or not now." Sally said in her soothing tone.

"Mmmm..." Tails said again. By now, Sonic was also drenched in blood from Tails, leaving droplets behind them.

"This is SO not cool." Sonic said again, looking at the trail behind them.

Robotnik and Snively, who had now escaped their ropes, looked on at the departing freedom fighters through the security system.

"Send out the SWAT-bots to finish them off." Robotnik said.

"Yessir...right away" Snively said, pushing more buttons on the panel.

"I'm not letting that fox get out of here alive. He's begun to annoy me!" Robotnik continued as he watched the SWAT-bots being deployed and move towards the gang who hadn't noticed them yet.

Robotnik watched until the Freedom Fighters reached around halfway between the Fortress and the main exit of Robotropolis before giving the final command.

"ATTACK AND DESTROY THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS USE MAXIMUM FORCE!" He shouted into the command speaker. At this order, the SWAT-bots quickly obeyed and began to move closer to Sonic and Co.

"I think we might have to start moving a little bit faster guys." Knuckles said.

"Why?" Sally asked.

"Because there are a few dozen 'bots' heading our way as we speak." Knuckles replied hurriedly.

Everyone turned and looked behind them and saw that Knuckles was right, there were a lot of angry looking SWAT-bots heading straight for them, guns ready for action. They were still a few minutes behind so they had a little time to plan.

"What are we gonna do Sal-I can't run with Tails here, it's hurtin' him just walkin' like this." Sonic asked. Sally realized that he was right. Tails needed as little movement as possible and if Sonic ran, it would be really painful for him.

"We are going to have to split up then. Sonic can go take Tails through the forest while the rest of us lead the bots away from them." Sally suggested. The others nodded.

"See ya' soon!" Sonic said and began to quickly walk into the forest whilst the others stopped and waited for the SWAT-bots to arrive. The last thing they heard from Tails before Sonic vanished from sight was a small, weak cough which sent shivers down their spines. How could someone do something like this to a child?

Unfortunately again, the SWAT-bots weren't fooled by the plan and took off in Sonic's direction…

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!


	9. Apologies

Okay, guys, I know that this isn't really allowed but I can't think of any other way to let you know about the real chapter 9.

Let me explain….

About 2 months ago, I split up with my fiancée John and unfortunately, I had to move back to my fathers house 100 miles away. Since then, John is refusing to return my computer to me and there is no other way for me to get it back in the foreseeable future.

The big problem is…ALL my fanfiction (Including the rest of A Dream Come True) was on it! gasp of shock from readers!

I am currently writing this message from my local library. Yes, I walked four miles to my nearest library just to let you all know of my predicament-that's how much I care!

Anyhow, I shall try and do what I can to resolve this situation but I'm really not sure how long it will take so I would just like to apologise whole heartedly for this catastrophy!

Also, I would like to ask all of you who believe that this message is against the rules or 'Illegal' to not report me because I simply want to say sorry to you all and explain what is happening.

Thanks for Caring. TailsLover666. xxx


	10. Coming Clean

Guess who's back! ME! Lol. Yep, seeing as so many of you love this story, I felt really bad to just leave you hanging like this so Ive finally managed to make time in my busy schedule to update! Home life is getting a bit better now and Ive even got my own flat! YAY! Please keep reading and reviewing to let me know you are still interested in this fic…Here we go again guys!

Chapter 10: Revelations.

"Great. What do we do now?" Bunnie asked.

"We should go and catch up with Sonic and warn him." Knuckles replied for Sally. At this, they set off running as fast as they could towards Sonic but they took a different route so they could get past the robots easier. At first, they weren't sure how to find them but soon they noticed that they simply had to follow the trail of blood and they would reach the two eventually.

"This is sick." Rotor said as they followed the trail.

"I know, but at least it makes it easier for us to find them." Sally replied although she was disgusted herself.

Finally, Antoine spotted Sonic up ahead and as the group got closer to them, they could hear Sonic desperately talking to Tails.

"C'mon lil' bro, you've gotta stay awake now. I know it's hard but you've gotta try o.k?" He said as he continued walking. It was obvious that Tails wasn't doing very well. "PLEASE lil' bro, please stay awake…" He continued. The others heard the desperation in his voice.

"Hey Sonic! The bots are following ya'!" Rotor called out and Sonic turned round to see Rotor about 20 meters away. He turned his head to the left and noticed that Rotor was right. SWAT-bots were pouring down the path he had come down moments earlier and were also around 20 meters away.

"Oh GREAT!" Sonic sighed. He thought things couldn't get worse for him right now.

"You're gonna have to run Sonic!" Sally cried out. She knew it wouldn't be good for Tails but it would be even worse for him if the bots re-captured him.

Sonic stood and thought for a moment then took off at a run. The bots opened fire and before Sonic could get very far, a laser beam hit him in his left leg causing him to stumble and Tails to fly out of his arms.

"Oh God!" Sonic called out as he grabbed his leg and winced. Instantly he got up and hobbled over to Tails. Bunnie and Knuckles were taking out the robots quickly and soon there was nothing left apart from a pile of scrap metal. The group ran over to Sonic who had now dropped to his knees in front of Tails.

"I dropped him! I can't believe it-I dropped him!" He kept repeating over and over as he scooped up Tails and was hugging the lifeless body close to him.

As the others approached, Rotor grabbed the med kit and then realised something. But before he had chance to say anything, Sonic said it for him.

"The blindfold came off Sal...It was my fault...I dropped him!" He said quietly. He was choked up and his leg hurt.

"Did he see the light?" Rotor asked. Right on cue, Tails opened his eyes and immediately began screaming in agony as best he could through the blood in his throat.

"CLOSE YOUR EYES TAILS-NOW!" Knuckles yelled at him but it was too late. Tails had passed out again with the pain.

Bunnie screamed.

"This is like a bad dream." Sally said solemnly.

"It is a bad dream remember-my bad dream." Sonic said.

"We've just got to get him home as soon as possible now." Sally said.

Knuckles now picked up the unconscious Tails and began running on with him. The others followed with Sally at the back helping Sonic to hobble along as fast as he could with his leg-which was still pretty fast compared with most animals.

The rest of the journey luckily went without disaster and soon they had reached the out-skirts of Knothole. Half of the village was waiting for them when they arrived as they had heard over the radio that they were on their way home.

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Knuckles yelled at them as the village gathered round eager to see the battered Tails. As Knuckles frantically tried to push a path through the crowd with Tails, he became very angry. 

"YOU ARE ALL SICK! WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANT TO COME AND SEE A DYING FOX SO MUCH THAT YOU WOLD ACTUALLY BLOCK THE PATH TO THE HOSPITAL!" He yelled at the top of his voice. The crowd went silent and a path was cleared through the rabble like the parting of the sea.

"Why does he always have to be so...truthful..." Sonic asked. What Knuckles had said about Tails dying had made it hit Sonic hard. He let go of Sally and, forgetting entirely about his leg, ran straight to the hospital hut where he grabbed Bookshire and dragged him outside back towards Tails and the others.

"C'mon Doc! Tails is gonna die if you don't get there now!" Sonic shouted as he dragged the doctor along. Bookshire quickened his pace and they joined the flood of villagers who were pouring from their houses and joining the rest of the crowd who had now completely mobbed Knuckles and Tails. Sonic and the doctor could clearly see the red echidna in the centre of the group. He had lifted Tails above his head in a vain attempt to keep him from being hurt further. They finally got to the crowd and Sonic yelled at them.

"Pass him this way!" He yelled and the villagers began to pass Tails over their heads towards Sonic like he was being carried along by a wave.

Tails reached the edge of the group and Sonic grabbed him before dashing back to the hospital hut and running inside closely followed by Bookshire.  
Knuckles finally managed to clear a path through the crowd and also followed Sonic. Sally and the rest stayed behind for a while to try to answer some of the many questions that the villagers were swamping them with, mainly, what had happened to Tails and was he really going to die like Knuckles had told them.

"Listen!" Sally shouted above the noise. "I shall hold a meeting to discuss and answer all of your questions as soon as we find out what is going to happen to Tails, but right now, I have to go and see if he is going to be o.k." She said and began to walk through the crowd in the direction that Sonic, Bookshire and Knuckles had taken. Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine caught up to Sally and all four walked together to the medical hut leaving the crowds behind standing and gossiping between themselves.

"Do you think that Tails is going to die?" A male ferret asked his friend, a black wolf.

"I dunno but if he does, whats Sonic gonna do?" the wolf replied. 

"They're always together." A female racoon said.

"If he dies, it wouldn't surprise me if Sonic killed himself!" The ferret added.

Back in the medical hut, Sonic had placed Tails down on the bed and Sally was dressing Sonic's leg in bandages where he had been shot. Everyone else was gathered around the bed Tails was lying in and Bookshire was performing various scans. He attached a drip and some other wires to Tails who was also given a series of injections by a nurse.

"I'm amazed he has survived this long." The doctor said adding yet more tubes and wires.

"So what happened to him? I've never seen anyone with this many injuries!" The nurse (a cat) asked.

"We don't really know. But I'm not sure if I want to find out, I mean, it must have been terrible whatever that Robotnik did to him." Sally replied with a worried tone in her voice.

"Well..." Knuckles began. He decided that it was time to come clean.

"On the first day, he was hit on the head by Robotnik's minions and taken from the forest and put into a cell in his fortress." Sonic looked up at Knuckles outburst and he and Sally came over to the others. Knuckles continued.

"From there he was beaten at 30 minute intervals by Snively and Metal Sonic then was subjected to various experiments using torture tools to see which ones would work the best to get him to tell Robotnik the location of Knothole. Tails refused to tell him where it was so Metal Sonic broke each of his arms, legs and tails one by one but even then Tails wouldn't tell them anything. He said that Sonic told him not to say anything if he ever got caught so that was what he was going to do..." Knuckles said and paused for a moment.

Sally began to cry and everyone else was in great shock but still no-one even tried to interrupt Knuckles by asking him how he knew all this.

"By now, Robotnik was getting really mad so he told Tails that he had caught all of us and he would kill us if he didn't say anything. Again, Tails didn't say anything because he knew that it was probably a trap so he just told Robotnik that Sonic told him not to say anything even if lives depended on it. Then, a few hours before we came to get him, Robotnik took him to the outskirts of the city where several robots pinned him to the floor and forced him to look at the sunlight so, you see guys, Tails was already blind before we got to him-it wasn't you're fault Sonic, he was blind before you dropped him, it just hurts like hell whenever the sun gets in his eyes now." Again Knuckles paused. Sonic looked at his feet.

"I told him not to tell anything..." Sonic said.

"Don't go blaming yourself now Suga-hog, ya' know, Tails wouldn't tell Buttnik the location of Knothole anyway-even if ya' said it was o.k to." Bunnie re-assured Sonic.

"Finally," Knuckles said. "Robotnik saw us coming so he personally stabbed Tails in the stomach and got Snively to beat him up some more to make him look his worst for when we saw him. For some reason, Robotnik seemed to have convinced Tails by this time that it was Sonic that was beating him-remember he couldn't see who it was, so that's why he was so screwed up when we came to get him..." Knuckles said as the first real tear of anguish had had ever shed streaked down his face. This shocked the rest even further.

"Poor, poor kid..." Rotor finally said.

"E az ad zee 'ard time yez?" Antoine managed to say.

"Yes Antoine, he's had a hard time. Poor little guy." The cat said.

"Well, I just thought I'd better tell you so that you know the proper extent of his injuries so maybe you could treat them better." Knuckles said as he wiped the tear he had shed away.

"Yes...well...thankyou...but it may be quite inconsequential now..." Bookshire said.

Throughout this, Sonic still had not spoke. Sally noticed this.

"Sonic?..." She asked him cautiously.

"Could you leave me alone with him for a sec guys?" He slowly replied.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea if the doctor leaves." Sally said. Sonic looked to Knuckles again.

"Sally, Tails will be o.k for a few moments and Sonic will shout Bookshire if anything goes wrong won't ya'?" Knuckles said.

"Sure I will." Sonic replied.

"Anyway, I'm sure you are all wondering how I know all this. Come sit outside and leave Sonic for a bit while I explain..." Knuckles said as they followed him out of the hut. As soon as they had gone, tears began to fall down Sonic's face. He gave a little sob which for some reason woke Tails up. Sonic didn't notice until Tails coughed.

"Who...who's there?" He asked nervously. Sonic noticed that the beeping of Tail's heart monitor had quickened and he realised that Tails was afraid.

"It's o.k lil' buddy, it's just me." Sonic said and stroked the Kit's forehead.

"S...Sonic?" Tails said.

"Yep. We got you out of there dude. You're in Bookshire's hut now." Sonic said.

"I hurt all over...but...its o.k...I...Ididn't tell Buttnik where...cough Knothole is..." Tails croaked out and then coughed again.

"I know lil' bro. I'm really proud of ya'. I don't think I would have been able to keep my mouth shut after what they did to you." Sonic said and gave a little sniffle.

"I know now that...that it wasn't you who did those things to me...was it?" Tails asked seemingly still unsure. It hurt Sonic to think that Tails actually believed that he was capable of doing such evil things to his best friend but then he checked himself. Tails had been through so much lately that his head was probably as messed up as his body.

"No Tails...I wouldn't do anything to hurt ya' ever-o.k?" He said.

"Yeah cough Sonic." The fox replied. "Where is everyone else?"

"They're out side-ya' want me to get them?" Sonic asked.

"Um...sure but wait...tell me hon...honestly, how bad am I?"

"Er...Tails...I'll jus go get Bookshire an' he will be able to explain better than me..." Sonic said but the real reason that Sonic said this was that Sonic couldn't bear to tell Tails himself that he was blind. Maybe it was better that Tails couldn't see. Sonic thought to himself as he went to fetch the others. At least then he wouldn't be able to see the state the rest of him was in-that would scare the hell out of him. He thought that it would be best if he got Bookshire to leave the blindfold on for now.

"I'll be right back bro." Sonic called as he left the hut. He thought he heard Tails cough again as he left...

So, there it is, an extra long chapter to say sorry for being away for so long like that. All you need to do now is tell me what you think! A big thanks to everyone who wrote nice stuff to me about my message for chapter 9 too-I really apreciate it!


	11. Heaven Sent

Hi there Tails lovers! Here's another sadistically sweet chappy here for your enjoyment. This one is nasty-and I mean NASTY! Don't barf though coz you'll get a little rest after this chap-not for too long though! Toodles!

Chapter11: Heaven Sent…

Outside, Sonic spotted the others immediately. They were sat together with two of Tails' friends.

"Is Tails gonna be o.k Princess Sally?" One asked.

"I'm sure he will be." Sally said.

"Will he be able to come out and play again tomorrow?" Questioned the other.

"Um...Well we'll have to see now won't we." She replied. She didn't want to tell them that Tails might not be able to play out ever again.

"Guys!" Sonic called out to them as he got nearer. They spun around to face him immediately.

"What happened! What's wrong!" Bookshire asked quickly.

"Chill doc-he's o.k-he wants to talk to ya'." Sonic told them. They got up but before they could go anywhere, Sonic spoke again.

"Waitup a sec guys...theres somethin' I've gotta tell ya'." He said and they sat back down again.

"It's Tails.." He started. "He doesn't know he's blind. He asked me to tell him how bad a state he was in...I just couldn't..." Sonic trailed off and sobbed again. Sally came over to him and embraced him.

"It's o.k Sonic. Bookshire can tell him. Can't you doctor?" She said as she hugged him.

"Yes..I suppose I'll have to." Bookshire replied and began walking towards the hut, followed by the others.

"You two wait here." Knuckles told the children who had scared looks on their faces.

"Yessir..." They both replied in unison.

Once inside, they gang walked up to Tails bedside and Sonic sat on the chair next to him.

"Tails...everyone's here..." He said to Tails gently.

"How are you feeling Tails?" Rotor asked. He knew it was a stupid question but at least he had broken the silence.

"Ur...o.k I guess..." Tails croaked and then smiled. How he could smile after what had happened to him was beyond any of those present's comprehension.

"Tails, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that you are at present, blind...the good news is that we may be able to find an antidote to the serum Robotnik gave you so it's probably not permanent." Bookshire said trying to sound optimistic for Tail's sake.

"Oh..." Was all Tails said.

"It's all good lil' bro. You'll be racing again with me in no time." Sonic said-trying to believe it himself but finding it impossible.

Tails coughed again. They seemed to be becoming more violent each time.

This worried everyone.

Tails heart monitor started to rise slightly and a pained expression crossed his face.

"Whatssup bro!" Sonic asked worriedly.

"I'm hurting quite a lot all of a sudden." Tails replied. Everyone looked to Bookshire.

"O.k Tails, I'll go get you some stronger painkillers, the others are just wearing off that's all-don't worry." He said and then walked off to his medical cabinet. Bunnie bent over and took Tails hand to comfort him. His face was frowning and his teeth were clenched together but they could tell that he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on.

"It's o.k. Suga-fox, Bookshire will be back in a sec honey." Bunnie told him.

A few moments later, the doctor came back with a syringe. Bunnie let go of Tails' hand and moved back so that she wasn't in the way.

"O.k Tails, this wont hurt much." Bookshire said as he gently steadied Tails arm. He made sure that he didn't move it because as it was broken in several places, it would hurt tremendously. He injected the morphine and stepped back.

"All done Tails. You should feel better in a few minutes." He told Tails who still had the blindfold on.

Several hours passed and Tails had been asleep most of that time. Everyone had stayed with him the whole time, too afraid to go anywhere in case something happened to Tails' condition. It was now nearing 11pm.

Bookshire removed the blindfold a while ago so that when Tails awoke, he could check to see the extent of the damage to his' eyes.

Bunnie, Antoine and Rotor were chatting in whispers amongst themselves so as not to wake up Tails. During the hours he had been in the hut, they had been given several shocks by Tails' heart and blood pressure monitors which occasionally went into overdrive. This sent Bookshire and various other nurses rushing over who injected him with various drugs and tried to stabilize his condition. However much they tried, each time it happened, his condition slowly deteriorated.

Sonic and knuckles were sat close together at the edge of the bed. They were both lost in thought. Sonic was frantically trying to think of a way to save his buddy but kept running into dead ends whilst Knuckles was distraught. He knew everything that was going to happen and he really wished he didn't. He put his head in his hands to try the others from seeing the tears of frustration flow.

"You o.k?" Sonic asked quietly.

"Not really." Came the reply. This worried Sonic even more.

"Sonic, I can't bear this any longer. I can't keep all this future crap in my head-I'm gonna go insane!" Knuckles blurted.

"Tell me Knuckles...like you said, if it's gonna happen anyway, it won't make a difference if we talk about it or not." Sonic said. Knuckles realised that Sonic was right.

"He's not gonna make it Sonic... I'm sorry..." Knuckles said another silent tear ran from his eye. Sonic saw it and knew that he had to try to be strong. In a way, Knuckles has to go through all of this twice. He thought to himself. I'm just going to have to stay calm.

"I guessed that he wouldn't..." Sonic told Knuckles.

Across the other side of the room, Sally was having quiet words with the doctor.

"We are going to have to let him go I'm afraid..." Bookshire whispered to Sally.

"No way-I can't let you kill my baby!" Sally replied still whispering but loud enough for most of the others to hear.

"Princess, with all due respect, I'm sorry but we have no other option-we cant give him anymore drugs or they'll do more harm than good and-" Sally cut him off.

"But there has to be something you can do!" She said desperately.

"Look at him Sally-he's in constant pain. The morphine isn't working anymore. The longer we keep him alive, the longer he has to suffer." Bookshire grimaced. "Sally, I'm sorry but it's the best thing for him now."

Sally turned and walked back to the small bedside where the others were gathered. She hung her head low-she couldn't bear to even look at the tiny, broken body in front of her.

"What's gonna happen' Sal?" Bunnie asked anxiously as Sally came and sat with them. Sonic and Knuckles already knew the answer.

"I'm afraid it's bad news guys. Bookshire says that there's too much damage done. He has massive internal bleeding and the drugs aren't working anymore. He's just in pain." Sally trailed off and as if to prove her point, Tail's body suddenly arched and shook violently as he began another of the many coughing fits he had had since the accident nearly 3 days ago.

"Oh no! Not again!" Sonic shouted in terror as he ran up to Tail's head end and pushed him down flat on his back to stop him from moving and gripped his hand firmly to reassure his friend that he was there. He wasn't sure if he could hear him, but Sonic spoke anyway.

"Its o.k. Tails, we're all here with ya'." Sonic said as the others stared on. Tails body continued coughing really badly as a stream of blood ran from the side of his mouth causing Bunnie to gag and grab Sally who was in total shock.

"This is the worst one he's had yet." Sonic said shocked at the sight.

"Oh Mobius! Do something Dr!" Rotor called to the Dr who was already running over to put an oxygen mask over the now choking Tails. Shortly, Tail's breathing began to slow and his coughs became less frequent.

"Ezz de little whon o.k now Mister Bookshirez?" Antoine asked the Dr quietly.

"He's far from o.k. Antoine but his coughing should improve for now if that's what you mean." Dr. Bookshire replied as he turned to go back to his computer.

"Anyway, as I was saying." Sally continued from earlier. "As you can see, Tails is suffering and... Well..." Sally turned to Sonic now with tears in her eyes. She tried to bring herself to tell him the most heart-breaking news she would probably ever have to tell anyone.  
"Sonic...you know that you are Tail's next of kin don't you?"

"Yeah...so?" Sonic replied. Knuckles knew what was going to be said so he just kept his eyes shut tight.

"Well, the Dr says that there is nothing else he can do and that Tails isn't going to get better... Continuing fighting his injuries isn't going to do any good so maybe it would be better for him if Dr Quack stops trying to save him. But..." Sally took a deep breath for the worst bit. "I'm sorry Sonic but you are the only person who can authorize that."

She finished and everyone turned to Sonic to see his reaction. Sonic just continued to watch Tails who was now very quiet. He was stroking Tail's forehead with one hand whilst holding Tails left hand with his other. There was a look of tranquillity across Sonics face as he gazed lovingly at Tail's face. He seemed not to have heard what Sally said as he didn't react at all, he just kept stroking Tail's head and smiling down at him whispering soothing words into his ear.

"Sugah hog?" Bunnie stated quietly.

"I can't kill my brother." Sonic turned to them quickly with an angry look on his face. "Do you really think I could do that!" 

Sonic broke off as he noticed that everyone was looking past him at Tails. He turned to see the fox flutter his eyes open briefly then close them again.

"Tails?.." Sonic asked. "Can ya' hear me buddy?" Sonic smiled and so did everyone else as they saw Tail's fingers twitch in response-he didn't open his eyes again or talk but they knew that he was listening.

"Everyone's still here Tails." Bunnie spoke first.

"You're gonna be o.k. 'lil' guy." Rotor said. Everyone knew that he was lying but thought it was best that way.

"Do you still hear us Tails?" Sally asked. Tails twitched the fingers on his hand that Sonic was holding again in recognition.

Sonic still didn't speak but instead stroked the Kit's forehead again. They watched Tails' face as he struggled with his body to open his eyes. As soon as they were open halfway, Sonic noticed that they appeared totally red inside from all his internal bleeding and silently pointed at them which made the others notice too. Antoine nearly ran from the room. The eyes seemed very eerie to him and they began to scare him. Sally and Bunnie noticed his expression.

"Antoine, I know it's not pretty but you have just got to bear it for Tails. It's not his fault his eyes are like that." Sally instructed. Antoine felt guilty.

"I apologizez my Prinzez." He said.

Every one of them jumped as a hoarse, forced, pain filled voice started to mumble something and they all crowded closer, eager to here what Tails would try to say.

"H...hi..." Tails managed to struggle out.

"Hi Tails." Knuckles replied knowing that none of the others would answer.

After a few moments silence, Tails began to worry they had left him.

"yo...you...s...s...still...ther..?"

"Yes we're still here lil' guy." Sonic said choking up. He never thought that he would ever have to see his brother and best friend in the entire universe have to go through this much.

"My...my head hurts." Tails mumbled as a small tear of blood ran freely from his eye, staining his cheek.

"Don't cry Miles, we are all here." She said and Tails realised she must be seriously upset if she called him 'Miles'.

" Don't...don't worry...I...he...heard ev...ryth...in you...talked...about. I ..k.no...w...w...whats...go...going...to happen..to...me."

Oh God I'm sorry Tails. We didn't know you were listening..." Sally worriedly said. He must really be out of it on those drugs to take the news that he was going to die so well she thought to herself. Her thoughts were broken sharply when a noise from the bed Tails was laid on made her jump.

"So...nic...something's...burning...me...It..h...urts...Soni..." Tails suddenly gasped out through clenched teeth as Sonic held his hand tighter and stroked his forehead. He was determined not to cry in front of Tails but he was so frustrated that he had to watch his friend in pain and not even be able to hug him-the smallest movement of his body could cause a huge haemorrhage. Tails let out a moan of pain which brought a tear to everyone's eyes. Sally and Bunnie were crying freely into each other's arms and Rotor and Antoine stared at the piteous face of the young fox as tears slipped slowly down their faces. Knuckles was just sitting...waiting for the inevitable.

"Soni..c..." Tails winced again. Sonic felt Tail's forehead burning up beneath his hand and got a little more worried. As more crimson tears ran down his face, Tails arched his back in agony as his heart monitor beeped faster.

"Jus...stay..with me...guys...o...k...?"

"Sure Tails-were never gonna leave you..." Sonic replied. He felt just a little relieved that he wouldn't have to tell Bookshire to give up trying on his bro but then felt guilty for that.

"Thank...you...guy...s...So...nic...I...love...you..."

"I love you too Tails..." Sonic couldn't think of anything else to say and there was a moment of silence. It was the most tranquil and peaceful silence any of them would ever hear-the only noise was that of the heart monitor that was beeping out Tail's heartbeat as a thin green line went across the screen. The line rose into a spike at each of the beats. Suddenly, Tails let out another gasp and the monitor displayed that his heartbeat was rising quickly.

Everyone snapped out of their silence at stared at Tails who was now shaking violently with an agonizing expression on his face. He gasped again and began coughing up loads of blood which poured down his chin and onto his chest. Antoine actually began to believe that he was in some sort of zombie movie.

"AHHHHHH!" Tails screamed no longer to hold his pain inside.

"TAILS!" Sonic screamed "OH MY GOD!-SOMEONE GET THE DOCTOR BACK QUICKLY!" he yelled and Antoine ran off to find someone. By now, Tail's heart monitor was beeping erratically-seemingly out of control. Tails was starting to throw a fit and he was choking on the blood in his throat.

"He can't breathe!" Rotor yelled at everyone. He and Sonic pinned the shaking Tails down to stop him convulsing. Sonic tried his hardest to get the blood out of his mouth so he could breathe but it wasn't working. Sonic was panicking and kept screaming at Tails to calm down. Rotor was still trying to get him to breathe and Sally and Bunnie were screaming in terror. The Dr ran in with Antoine in front of him and they both stopped in shock at the sight before them. The Dr noticed the insane beeping of the heart monitor and then looked back at Tails who was still screaming at the top of his voice. Words could not describe the expression on his face. It was contorted in agony and fear and his eyes were tightly shut as if to block out the pain. He looked like he was possessed.

"I cant do anything-this is it." The Dr stated rather bluntly. "Best you can do is stay with him-he still knows you're there."

Sonic grabbed the tiny kitsune whose body then went limp and had stopped fitting as he was completely exhausted and pulled Tails onto his knee. He cradled him like a baby talking to him insanely, listening to the strained gasps of air that was barely keeping Tails alive.

"TAILS! I LOVE YOU-DONT GO-WE ALL NEED YOU HERE-YOU'VE GOT TO STAY ALIVE LITTLE BRO-DON'T GIVE UP ON ME NOW-YA HEAR ME TAILS? YOU CAN'T GO-I WONT LET YOU DIE-O.K!" He begged and he began rocking the now silent Tails back and forth as the monitor slowed dramatically and finally stopped; a constant bbbbeeeeeeeeeeepppppppp now filled the room signifying the death of Miles 'Tails' Prower.


	12. Flash Back To Reality

Hi again everyone. Since my last chapter, a few people have reviewed. Most of them believing that the story had ended and that was it…….BUT YOU ARE WRONG! HA HA HA!

Do you really think I would leave you hanging like that! Well, if you have read my other stories then maybe you would be right. But this is different-the story is just beginning!

Insert evil laugh here!

Oh yeah, there's a bit of detail in here regarding what happened to Tails whilst he was in Robotnik's 'care'. It's not toooooo nasty but I hope none of you are squeamish!

Chapter 12: Flash back to reality…

Bookshire came closer and walked past everyone towards Sonic and Tails and began removing the tubes from Tail's arms and neck. Nobody said a single word for about half an hour after Dr Bookshire had solemnly left. Sonic was still cradling Tails and stroking his forehead, the others just watched them.

"He's so peaceful now Sal..." Sonic said to the staring Sally, breaking the silence.

"Yes." Sally replied faintly. She was having trouble accepting what had just happened.

"Yes, he is" Bunnie also answered too stunned to say anything else.

Knuckles suddenly got up and ran from the room. As he went, the others noticed something small and shiny flashing in his hands. It looked like some sort of emerald...

"Where zee 'ell iz 'e goin'?" Antoine asked. He thought that Knuckles was being very disrespectful at a time like this.

"Be quiet Antoine, remember, Knuckles knows things that we don't so maybe there's something he's got to do." Rotor said. Antoine went silent.

"I gotta go now guys." Sonic told the group quietly as he began to stand up-Tails still in his arms. The remaining freedom fighters sat and watched Sonic leave with their heads hung. As soon as he and Tails' body had left the hut, Sally broke down. She was worried for Sonic. She didn't know what he was capable of at the moment. Tails meant everything to him-everyone knew that. She worried for his sanity.

"Lets leave Sonic alone for a while. Why don't we see what Knuckles is up to?" Rotor suggested. He felt really mixed up at the moment. He wanted to cry but he knew that that wouldn't help matters. It would only upset the others more. He decided that it would be best for them all to keep busy-they would have time to mourn once they had gotten over the initial shock of Tails' death.

Rotor got up to leave and the others followed slowly. Nobody spoke.

As she left, Sally sadly turned back and gazed at the room. The scene would haunt her forever. She looked at the blood stained bed-sheet, the six small chairs gathered around the bed, and finally the pillow, also stained a deep red shade from Tails' crimson tears. Sally shivered. She turned back and followed the others out of the hut. She decided then and there that, even though it sounded sick, she would allow no one to enter that room again. It was the last place Tails was ever seen alive and it should be kept preserved.

That was the way that Sally dealt with her grief.

Sonic on the other hand was dealing with his grief very differently. He had locked himself in his room some time ago along with Tails and shouted at anyone who knocked at the door. Several people along with Dr. Bookshire had tried to tempt him to come out. They had offered him food, shouting at him, and Bookshire had even tried to have a conversation with him through the door but nothing had seemed to work. Sonic totally refused to come out and by the third attempt at trying, Sonic was getting really annoyed.

"Why can't you just LEAVE US ALONE!" He screamed at the door.

"Sonic, everyone's worried about you. We just want to help." Amy Rose said. She had come over as quickly as she could as soon as she heard that Tails had been hurt but unfortunately, by the time she arrived, Tails had already gone.

"It would help a lot if you just left me and Tails ALONE." He said angrily. He waited for a moment and when he heard her footsteps slowly making their way away from his door, he calmed considerably.

"I know that I wasn't really the best at being a big brother Tails, but I just want you to know that I tried my best-I really did. I never meant anything to happen to you, I should have walked with you to the ring pool that day. I should have got to Robotropolis as soon as I found out you were there. I should have…" Sonic trailed off for a moment. He didn't know what else he should have done but he knew that he could have done something to stop all this from happening.

Tails was laid in his arms; Sonic was still cradling him like a baby and rocking him back and forth. They were both covered in blood but Sonic didn't notice it. To him, Tails just looked like he was sleeping.

"I'm so…so sorry little guy…I let you down didn't I?" He said as though he expected Tails to answer. 

Silence…

By now, it was around 1am on the fourth day since Tails was captured. All of the freedom fighters, except Sonic and Tails of course, were sat in Sally's hut with Knuckles. They had found him out on the edge of the forest. He had been just sitting in the grass, crossed legged, watching the emerald that they thought they had seen him leave with. They convinced him to come inside where it was warmer and explain a bit more about how he knew what was happening to Tails.

"I told you already, it's what the Chaos emeralds DO." He said firmly. They had been quizzing him for some time and he was beginning to get irritated.

"Knuckles, I know this is just as hard for you as it is for us, but why don't you just explain from the start briefly what the situation is…" Sally asked him in a sort of strange pleading tone. Knuckles then realised that she was asking so many questions because she wanted something to take her mind off what had just happened. He decided to oblige.

"Right, like I already said, I was up on my island when Tails' emerald started flashing from red to orange. I went over to look at it and when I got there, there was a weird looking picture in it. It was kinda distorted but ya could still make out what was happening. Do you want me to tell ya what I saw?-It's not pretty…" Knuckles paused for a response. Sally thought about it for a moment and looked at the others. They each bowed their heads like they didn't want to be asked so Sally decided for them.

"Yes…I would like to know what happened-if it's not too upsetting for you Knuckles." She said. Knuckles thought that was quite considerate.

"O.k. then…" Knuckles started. He looked up as if he was trying to remember but really the image was stamped on his brain forever, he was just thinking of an appropriate way to describe it to them.

"First I saw Tails strapped into a chair. I couldn't see his face at first because he had his head hanging down in front of him. The room was nearly pitch black but for some reason I could still see him. He was crying really softly. Then a door at the side of the room opened. He didn't even look up. It was like he didn't even hear it or something. He just tried to wipe the tears away as best he could with his arms strapped down. I saw Snively and Mecha-Sonic come in. Snively stood about 4 feet away from Tails but Mecha went and stood in the shadows where Tails couldn't see him…

FLASHBACK

"Hello Mister 'I'm not going to tell anyone where Knothole is because Sonic doesn't want me to', how are you feeling?" Snively said sarcastically.

Tails looked up slowly at Snively. Knuckles then saw that he had been badly beaten and had a fresh cut on his forehead which looked sore. Tails bared his teeth and growled at Snively.

"Well, well, someone is feeling feisty today aren't they?" Snively mocked.

"Go kiss Buttnik's butt Slimely!" Tails growled.

"Now listen here you little freak!" Snively shouted right into Tails' face as he grabbed his chin, holding Tails' face close to his own. "I have a little surprise for you…"

END FLASHBACK

"-and then Slimely told Tails that they had captured Sonic and Robotocized him. For some reason, Tails believed him and started screaming for Sonic. Mecha then came out of the shadows and went over to Tails." Knuckles continued the story as he watched the others' jaw's drop. They couldn't believe that Snively could be so mean as to tell Tails that. If they thought it was bad so far, they're gonna flip by the time this story is done. Knuckles thought to himself before continuing.

FLASHBACK

"You see rodent, I'm telling the truth. Sonic now works for Robotnik. NOW TELL ME WHERE KNOTHOLE IS!" Snively demanded. Tails stared at Mecha Sonic in disbelief for what seemed like a long time.

Knuckles knew it was a trick and felt the anger building up inside him.

"I can't tell you, Sonic wouldn't want me to." Tails said quietly as he shook his head.

"Fine. As you wish my furry little freak." Snively said with a snort. He then turned to 'Sonic'. "You heard him Sonic!" He said and Mecha began to move towards Tails. Tails pressed his back against the chair as Mecha moved closer. He closed his eyes tightly and turned his head away, expecting to be beaten again. Instead, Mecha began untying the straps which pinned Tails to the chair and Tails looked up…

END FLASHBACK  
"He actually thought that Mecha was going to save him. He believed that Mecha was really Sonic so much that he couldn't believe that he could be evil!" Knuckles said sadly.

"Maybe that's just what he wanted to believe." Rotor suggested. "I mean, he knows that once someone's been robotocized, they are just Buttnik's slaves."

"Mabeez you arez right…" Antoine slowly wondered.

"Anyway Knux, carry on darlin'." Bunnie said although she wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

"O.k." Knuckles replied. "Well, once Mecha had untied Tails, he started carrying him across the room. Tails was smiling coz he thought that 'Sonic' was going to take him home. Once Mecha had crossed the room, Tails saw a wooden table with more straps on it and realised what was happening. He started screaming and trying to get away but Mecha just held on to him tightly…"

FLASHBACK

"NO! DON'T DO THIS SONIC! PLEASE LET ME GO! PLEASE!" Tails screamed as he kept squirming but to no avail. Mecha put him on the table and held him down whilst Snively came over and began tying the new straps around Tails' arms and legs. Once they had done, they stepped back to make sure everything was secure.

"PLEASE SONIC! DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE!" Tails begged but Mecha Sonic said nothing.

"Ahh…how sweet! You actually thought that you were going to get rescued didn't you!" Snively said with a sneer.

As Mecha Sonic re-approached, Tails saw that he had picked up a large wooden pole, similar to a baseball bat…

END FLASHBACK

"Tails was goin' totally nuts by now. He was screamin' so loudly I thought he was going to throw a fit or somthin'. He was thrashin' around all over the table and kept banging his head on it-maybe he was trying to knock himself out again like he did before-but it didn't work. Mecha came over with this bat-thing and Snively asked Tails again to tell him where Knothole was. Tails jus' shouted at him to let him go so Mecha came over and hit his arm with the bat-it obviously broke his arm instantly. Tails went really quiet, he must have been shocked or something. He just stared at his arm with a weird look on his face. Snively kept asking where Knothole was and each time Tails said no so Mecha broke another arm or leg."

The freedom fighters jaw's had dropped even further by this time and Knuckles thought that Sally was going to faint or some thing.

"Do you really want me to carry on Sally?" He asked-it was his turn to be considerate.

"Um…well…yes but…maybe you could just give us the basics from now on…" She said. Her voice was shaking. She wondered how Knuckles could have seen all this and kept his sanity-never mind Tails.

Before Knuckles could continue, Tails' chaos emerald, which had been lying on the table in front of them all, began flashing like it had done before. Knuckles was totally stunned. The other freedom fighters noticed his expression.

"What's up Knux?" Bunnie asked worriedly.

"I don't believe it!" Knuckles said as he gazed into the Chaos emerald and smiled.

"WHAT! What don't you believe!" Rotor asked frustratedly.

"Do you not know?-If someone dies, their emerald stops glowing! So that means-" Knuckles was cut off.

"TAILS ISN'T DEAD!" They all gasped.

"But…we saw him." Bunnie said confused.

"I know but he must be with Aurora." Knuckles replied. This meant nothing to the others and he noticed their confused faces.

"I'll explain later…I gotta go-I'll be back soon!" Knuckles said as he began to race out of the door.

"What the hell just happened?" Rotor asked.

"I don't know Rotor, but it sounds pretty good to me!" Sally said. She felt apprehension and excitement at the same time.

"Lets tell Suga-hog!" Bunnie suggested.

"Maybe we shouldn't get his hopes up until we know for sure…" Sally said. None of those present knew of the state Sonic was in. Everyone who did know-which was most of the village, was in a state of panic. They all thought their hero had gone crazy!-Maybe they were right…

REVIEW NOW! Oh yeah thanx to Sonicrules 12 and Shade for reviewing pretty much every chapter so far. If anyone else has done that and I've not noticed, flame me for it now! Lol.


	13. Into the abyss

Hi there lovely Tails fans. I hope that I am not disappointing you with the way that this fic is working out. Not too much nastiness in this chapter although it is a bit angsty so watch out kiddies! Lol. I'm a bit sad that I only got 2 reviews for my last chapter-I guess it's because people seemed to think that it was I had finished the fic and my last chap was just an epilogue or something-yeah right! Oh well, thankyou to my two reviewers anyway. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Chapter 13: Into the abyss… 

Sonic was still in his hut. He had laid Tails on his bed and was sat on the floor. By now he felt as he had lost all hope and there was no point in continuing his life. It was his fault that Tails had had to go through so much pain and it was his fault that he was now dead. He felt like he wanted to go through the same pain. He felt like he wanted to die so he could be with Tails again.

He went over to his kitchen, it was more of a closet with a couple of drawers and an oven in it but it did it's job. He picked out a small kitchen knife and took it back to his bedroom. He resumed his position at the side of the bed and looked at the implement.

"I deserve this." He said aloud to himself before slowly pressing the knife to his arm. He winced in pain as he watched the blood flow freely. After he had cut deep slashes in each of his wrists, he sat back and watched the pool of blood slowly grow larger on his floor. Every so often, he went over the cuts again with the blade to keep them fresh although they probably wouldn't have stopped bleeding anyway due to the depth of them. Around ten minutes passed and he began to feel very tired and woozy, the pool had increased in size dramatically but Sonic didn't feel scared. He felt strangely calm. He was going to be with Tails and that was all that mattered. He didn't care about the immense pain because he knew that Tails had endured much worse and had still not given in.

Little did he know that Amy had seen what he was doing through his window and had alerted Bookshire and the other freedom fighters who were on their way towards his room. As soon as they got there, Rotor kicked the door hard, breaking it off it's hinges instantly. Sonic was too spaced out to acknowledge this and as they rushed into his room, a terrible sight met their eyes.

Sonic was sat on the floor, he was covered in his and Tails' blood but due to the large pool at his feet, they thought that it all belonged to him. Sally and Bookshire were the first to rush over.

"What have you done to yourself!" She frantically asked as Sonic, who had still not acknowledged their entrance, just sat limply. He had no more strength left in his body.

"Here I come lil' bro…" He finally managed to say with a smile on his face before sliding to his side and collapsing in a heap on the floor.

"Oh my God! Has he…Is he…" Bunnie stuttered.

"Get him to the med hut now!" Bookshire shouted at them and Bunnie ran over and lifted him into her arms easily with her robotic limbs. She then ran out of the door in the direction of the medical hut with the others following. Sally ran alongside Bunnie and went to hold Sonic's hand but dropped it again in terror as she noticed the huge gashes in his wrist.

"God Bookshire-look!" She said, her voice shaking.

Bookshire looked at his arms as soon as they had got Sonic into the medical hut.

"O.k. You are all going to have to leave while I try to fix this." He ordered.

"But…" Sally started.

"Go now!" Bookshire repeated with a stern look that he didn't use very often. Sally knew better than to argue. They all left and sat outside the hut. Each was jabbering incessantly. Sally, Bunnie and Amy Rose were crying as were several villagers that had heard the news and gathered round. Rotor and Antoine were holding them. Antoine stroked Sally's head and Bunnie's was buried into Rotor's shoulder. Sobs echoed around the village as more and more of them heard of what had happened.

"First the fox and now Sonic!" One cried.

"Wanna know what I think?-I think that if Tails hadn't have died, Sonic wouldn't have done this!" Another commented.

"Yeah!-It's that little mutant's fault!-I'm glad Robottnik killed him!" A third shouted above the others. 

Everyone went silent as they noticed Sally and Bunnie stop sobbing and raise their heads.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" Bunnie said in a tone that could kill a person-if voices could kill that is.

"Well…um…I-" The villager, who was a male fox, stuttered. Before he could make any sort of explanation, Bunnie had dived on him shortly followed by Sally. Bunnie hit him with her robotic arm and knocked him out. They both stood up and Sally called for the guards who promptly came over.

"Take the traitor to the cells! I will deal with him later!" She commanded.

The rest of the villagers decided that it would be best just to keep quiet from then on.

"How could he say that?" Sally asked as she began sobbing again. Antoine came over to her and began to urge her towards her hut out of the public eye. Rotor decided that it would be best to stay together to avoid any more incidents like what happened with Sonic so he began to take Bunnie in the same direction. This left the villagers stood at the entrance to the medical hut, unsure as what to do next…

Whilst all this was happening, Knuckles was having problems of his own. He had arrived back at the floating island and was trying to see if the Master emerald could give an explanation to what was happening to Tails' Chaos emerald. The Master gem was in the centre of his cave, surrounded by the other six gems. He placed Tails' along with the others then walked up to the Master emerald and laid his hands lightly on its surface. He tried to focus his mind and concentrate as hard as he could. He had to block out all noises and distractions. After several minutes, the emerald started to glow brighter than usual. Knuckles saw this and asked it his question in his mind.

"Is Tails still alive?" He asked. He waited a few moments and just when he thought that it wasn't going to answer, the voice of what Knuckles could only presume was the emerald, pierced his mind.

"The two tailed one is alive by soul…" It said.

"But why did his emerald start flashing?" Knuckles asked perplexed.

"Because all is not lost for him…" It replied in its eerie, echoed voice. This confused Knuckles further.

"How is all not lost if he is dead?" He persisted.

"I told you, the soul is alive…"

"How do we get it back in its body then?" Knuckles said trying a different approach.

"He is in The Nothing…" It said and Knuckles felt the voice leave his head.

"What's the nothing!" He asked, but the voice had gone. He opened his eyes and as soon as he had got his bearings again, he sped back off in the direction of Knothole…

Dr. Bookshire had been operating on Sonic's wrists for about an hour. He had repaired the ripped blood vessels and stopped most of the bleeding.

"Close them up for me please nurse." He told the young female cat from earlier. Bookshire was totally drained. Tails was already gone and he had nearly lost Sonic on two occasions and it had really scared him. What would happen without their hero? Would everyone blame it on him?

"Yes Doctor." She replied and immediately set to work.

Sonic was stood in darkness. He could feel ground under his feet but when he tried to reach down to touch it, he could feel nothing. He could not see anything except darkness in all directions.

"Where the hell am I?" He asked the darkness.

As if to answer his question, Sonic saw a small light in the distance. He stood and watched it and realised that it wasn't just a light, it was a figure. As the figure came closer, Sonic realised that it resembled someone very familiar.

"Tails!" Sonic asked in disbelief as a small, orange fox walked towards him. Tails stopped around two feet away from Sonic. He was bathed in a golden kind of glow and didn't appear to have any of the injuries on him that he had had when he died.

"Hello…" Tails replied. Sonic looked around him as the voice echoed all about him. It sounded like there were several hundred of Tails stood all around Sonic.

"What the hell is going on here!" Sonic stuttered.

Tails then dropped to his knees in front of Sonic.

"Please Sonic, you've gotta take me home! I've been walking around in the dark for ages and I haven't got a clue where we are! There doesn't seem to be anyone else here but I keep hearing weird noises like a monster or something!" Tails sobbed as he raised his head to look up at Sonic. Sonic was just about to reply when he began to disappear.

"Sonic! Please don't go! Don't leave me here!" Sonic heard Tails screaming before disappearing completely. Suddenly, he felt like he was falling at a great speed. He yelled out loud as he suddenly felt a bump and opened his eyes. He was in a hospital bed and Bookshire was standing over him.

"Tails, I'm gonna make a promise to you right now. I SWEAR I'm gonna get you back. No matter how long it takes. Even if it means that I die trying. Even if I get robotocized. Hell, even if I have to end up working for Buttnik I swear I'm gonna find a way to bring you back. I know you can hear me where ever you are and I know that you wouldn't want me to get hurt trying to get you back, but that's what I have to do." Sonic vowed to himself at that moment.

"We thought we had lost you for a while back there!" Bookshire said.

"We?" Sonic asked before looking around him. Then he noticed that Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Amy and Knuckles were all stood at the foot of his bed.

"Why the hell did you have to do something so stupid!" Sally asked before they all rushed up to him and hugged him.

"Hey! You're all gonna smother me in a sec!" Sonic protested as they squeezed him.

"Any way," Sally said as they backed off a bit. "Knuckles has some good news. Tell him Knux!" Sally said cheerfully. Sonic had a feeling that he knew what Knuckles was going to say.

"Tails…he's not…well…he's kinda not dead…" Knuckles said proudly before they all looked at Sonic for his reaction. His expression was not one that they expected.

"I know…" He said as he suddenly felt very sleepy. He drifted off before the others could respond to this. They were all totally confused.

"What did he mean?" Rotor asked.

"Maybe he can't believe that Suga-fox died or something." Bunnie suggested.

"Maybe its all the drugs doc gave him." Rotor made an attempt at answering his own question.

"Maybe…" Knuckles started.

"Maybe what?" Sally asked.

"Maybe its something to do with that near death experience he had." He said. Everyone was silent.

"D' ya really think that he could have seen Tails?" Bunnie asked.

"I suppose its possible." Rotor said.

When Sonic opened his eyes again, the others were still there waiting for him. He was touched that they had stayed with him even though he was asleep. 

"Hi again guys." He croaked. It seemed that his voice hadn't woken up yet.

"Hi…Now what were you saying?" Sally asked straight away.

Sonic told them about everything he had seen and they all came to the conclusion that it must have really been a near-death experience.

Sally then noticed that Tails' Chaos emerald was glowing again.

"Knuckles-look!" She said excitedly.

The freedom fighters gathered around the emerald as a picture appeared on the surface of it. It was Tails. He was wandering around in the dark looking afraid and lonely.

"Where the hell is he! That's where I saw him earlier." Sonic asked no one in particular.

"He's in the Nothing" Knuckles replied as if he knew what 'the Nothing' was. Sonic wasn't sure whether he was supposed to worry about his friend at this news but from the looks of it, Tails wasn't enjoying himself too much.

"What's The Nothing? And why is he there? And what's going to happen to him? And-" Sonic was cut short as Tails face turned to one of fear. He stared upwards at something that no one could see. Then Tails spoke.

"Who are you?" he stammered.

A voice replied as Sonic and the others stared on feeling helpless.

"I am Aurora, the Guardian of the Nothing. You are here because of your untimely demise."

"What do you mean? Where's Sonic? You had better leave me alone or else Sonic will be here any minute and he will-"

"Silence. We have many things to discuss. Come with me." As the Guardian said this, Tails was lifted off the floor by an invisible force and taken in the direction of the Guardian. Once he could no longer be seen, the emerald turned back to its normal colour.

"What just happened?" Bunnie asked.

"Well…to me it looked like a weird floaty kinda thing just came over to Tails and took him off somewhere with a sorta magic force type thingy." Sonic tried to explain.

"Somebody please translate that into normal language." Bunnie said sarcastically.

"That meant that he doesn't know." Sally giggled. Sonic flashed her a look of mock anger.

"And I suppose you DO know do you!" He said just as sarcastically.

"No but at least I don't pretend to know like some of us!" Sally shot back.

"Now, now children. Stop being immature!" Rotor chastised.

"She started it." Sonic muttered under his breath.

"You have to have the last word don't you hedgehog boy!" Sally laughed.

"Yep!" Sonic said as he had the last word.

"I think that we have more important things to talk about at the moment guys!" Knuckles said. He was growing impatient listening to them. They shut up. They all sat in silence as they thought about what they had seen in the gem. Sonic then realised something.

"Oh my God!-The poor little guy doesn't even know that he died! Did ya hear him? He thinks that I'm still there to protect him-But I can't now can I!" Sonic said. He tried to sit up in the bed but as he tried to push himself up with his arms, an excruciating pain made him fall back down.

"Ahhh!" He yelled and made the others jump.

Sally and Antoine helped him into a sitting position.

"Iz diz bedder?" Antoine asked.

"Yeah. Thanks Ant." Sonic replied.

"I think it'll be better if we all get some rest for the time being. Maybe we should call it a night for now." Rotor said. He needed his bed.

"What about Tails!" Sonic asked.

"Well there isn't much we can do at the moment. We will come back in the morning and we can discuss a plan of action." Sally said.

"But-" Sonic started.

"No buts Sonic. We all need to sleep or we will be no good at trying to save Tails will we?" Sally interrupted.

"But Sal-" Sonic protested again.

"Sonic! Don't argue with me. I'm still angry at you for putting yourself in this place so don't even try to push your luck!" She said. Sonic decided to leave it.

Well, what did you think? I hope this was enough to satisfy your needs for this week. Hope to see you all really soon with yet another chapter for your enjoyment! NOW REVIEW!


	14. Heroes Never Die

Hello again guys. How are you all! Well, the last chapter received mixed reviews so I decided to reply to some of them sepsarately:

I LOVE FMA: The next chapter is up……now!

DAX THE METALHEAD: Thanx for being so nice!

SHADTIKAL4EVER: Thank you as well for your support!

SONICRULES12: Hey, I can't be perfect all the time you know! Lol. I agree that the name could use some improvement but it serves it's purpose and sums up the place just as good as something fancy would do! Thanx for your constructive critisism anyway. If I told you how (and if) they were going to save him, there would be no point in writing this fic would there so just hang on to your hat matey!lmao. Thanx for always reviewing.

JHONIC: Thankyou. This seems to be the way that a lot of my fics turn out so I'm glad that you like my style!

SHADE-THE-HEDGEHOG: I hope you checked your mail this time and noticed this update! I know it's a cruddy name but oh well…whattdya do! Thankyou for your continuous support.

Thankyou again everybody and I hope you all continue to review and tell me what you think of my longest fic ever-Can you believe that last time (When I posted this as a one-shot) I only got something like 9 reviews for it! You people are so nice!

CHAPTER 14: Heroes Never Die…

It was now 7:00am and as the freedom fighters made their way into Sonic's hospital room, they saw that Sonic was awake. He undone the bandages around his wrists and was observing the damage with a look of shock on his face.

"I can't believe I did this to myself Sal." He said as she came closer. The freedom fighters once again took their positions around the bed and peered in to look at Sonic's wrists. As soon as they had caught a glimpse, they immediately turned away. Each wrist had a large line of thick black stitches running across it. The cut's were each covered in dried blood which Sonic attempted to remove. As soon as he touched it however, he jumped back. They were still very sore.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken the bandages off Sonic." Sally said calmly.

"Why? Are you scared!" Sonic joked.

"I'm not, but Antoine is." She replied and everyone turned to Antoine whose face had turned a greenish shade. He looked at them and tried to act as if he was alright.

"Anyway, lets take a look at Tails' emerald to see if he's there." Rotor said changing the subject. At this, Knuckles lifted onto Sonic's bed where they could all see. He placed his hands on it gently like he did with the Master emerald and concentrated. Everyone peered into it hoping to get a glimpse of Tails.

The emerald's surface became black and cloudy and a picture of Tails appeared in front of them. He looked just like he did when he died. The blood still ran freely from his mouth and every now and again, he let out a croak and a cough.

"But when we saw him last, he looked perfectly healthy-there was no blood or anything!" Knuckles said confused.

"I think I can answer that for you. You see, when we saw him last, he didn't know that he was dead did he?" Rotor said.

"No he didn't know, but what does that have to do with anything?" Sonic replied even more confused.

"Well, we also saw this Aurora thing say to Tails that she wanted to talk to him..." Rotor took a breath. "So it must have told Tails what happened to him and now that he knows that he's dead, his body has become like it was when he died." He finished.

"Poor Tails...He's still hurtin' even though he's dead!" Bunnie exclaimed as they gazed at the painful expression on Tail's face as he coughed again.

"You wouldn't think there would be anymore blood left in the poor kid." She continued.

"That doesn't help matters Bunnie." Sally said. She was distressed enough just seeing Tails in that state again.

"Remember Bunnie, this isn't the real world. Tails probably has an infinite amount of blood in there-seeing as he cant die again-can he?" Rotor said as he looked at Knuckles who had begun to whisper some sort of strange language into the emerald. After Knuckles finished speaking, they watched as a golden emerald Tails was holding-presumably given to him from Aurora-began to glow.

"What did you do Knuckles?" Sally asked him.

"I tried to see if we could communicate through the emeralds and it appears its working." The echidna replied as Tails gazed into the emerald and saw Knuckles face staring back at him from the surface of it. He smiled.

"Hey Tails can you hear me?" Knuckles said into the emerald. Tails could see his mouth moving but couldn't tell what he was saying. He had a puzzled look on his face so Knuckles turned back to the freedom fighters.

"He can see me but he can't hear me." He said hopelessly.

Sally passed him a piece of paper and a pen. Knuckles scribbled something down on it and put it up to the emerald for Tails to see.

Hope you're o.k. Dude. We all miss you and we are gonna get you out of there. We aren't sure why you're in there yet but we sure as hell are gonna find out how to get you back to us. Everyone misses you and Sonic tells you not to be scared. xxx

"Knuckles that was sweet!" Bunnie told him as they saw Tails do a thumbs up sign before starting to cough violently again and fell over clutching his throat. Everyone was worried but at least there's a chance they might be able to save him this time.  
Suddenly, a voice pierced the silence.

"I am Aurora. I am not here to hurt Miles. He is here because he died with a completely innocent conscience. Robotnik killed him when it was not his time to die. This is the Nothing. Souls wait here to return to their lives but they only have a certain amount of time."

"How much time?" Sonic asked into he emerald.

"The length of time a soul has before it totally 'dies' is the amount of time it took the body to die on Mobius-in Miles' case-3 days."

"How does he get out?" Rotor asked.

"Well...I'm afraid that I cannot say…you have to figure it out for yourselves." She told them. "If you are prepared to risk your own lives for the sake of his, then there is a strong chance that you will discover the way to save him. I will look after his soul for now. Remember, the quicker you discover the way, the sooner Miles will get better. He still has the injuries he obtained from Robotnik and is basically going through the whole 3 days over again."

"THATS JUST CRUEL! WAS IT NOT TORTURE ENOUGH FOR HIM TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT ONCE! ITS EVIL!" Screamed Sally at the emerald. She was usually the calm one in every situation but now she had just lost it.

"Do not shout at me. It displeases me-I did not hurt Miles. But I am capable of doing if you want."

At this, Aurora levitated Tails off the ground with the same invisible force as earlier. Everyone could see that he was coughing again. He then let out an ear splitting scream of agony as Aurora shot him in the stomach with a blue beam of electricity.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Sonic and Sally screamed as blood poured out of the new wound and Tails fell to the ground. They couldn't tell if he was dead or just unconscious.

"Don't worry feeble hedgehog-remember, the dead can't die-but they sure as hell can feel pain!" Aurora laughed as Tails opened his eyes and was trying to crawl across the floor away from Aurora. A trail of blood was left behind him as he whimpered and called out in pain.

"Sonic...please Sonic...come save me... where are you?...it hurts..." Tails fell silent as he passed out again.

Sonic decided to take the soft approach.

"O.k. Aurora you win. Please just don't hurt him anymore. He's gone through enough. We will go and figure it out O.K.?"

"Good idea hedgehog. Remember, the quicker you save him, the sooner he becomes pain free." And with that, Aurora was gone and the emerald was back to normal.

"So, has anyone got an idea?" Sonic asked.

"I think someone has to go get him." Sally said quietly.

"What iz you meaningz my prinzez?" Antoine asked. If he had thought about it for a bit longer, he probably would have realised that whenever Sally came up with an idea, he always felt as though he wished he'd never asked what it was.

"Aurora said that if we were going to save him, we would have to risk our own lives to save his right?" She stopped to see if the others were following her. "Well maybe we have to go into The Nothing and get him." Sally finished as she looked around the small group to see if everyone understood the meaning of her plan. Antoine wished he'd never asked.

"How d' we get ther?" Bunnie questioned. It was clear that she did not want to hear the answer that she thought was coming.

"Well…think about it, how did Tails get there?" Sally replied. She put it this way so that she didn't have to actually say what they had to do.

Bunnie went silent.

"I'm up for it Sal." Sonic said. He had promised Tails that he would do anything to get him back…

"Me too Princess." Knuckles said. He didn't want to be outdone by Sonic.

"Well some of us have to stay here to hold the fort-who knows what Eggman will be up to while we're away." Rotor said.

"I vill stay here." Antoine said, happy for an excuse not to go.

"I'm going to have to stay too I'm afraid." Sally told them. "The village won't be able to rule itself."

"O.k. , that settles it, we'll all go except for Antoine and Sally." Knuckles finalised.

Later that day, all the freedom fighters gathered in Rotor's hut. They all looked pretty scared except for Sonic who had a look of total determination and focus on his face.

"Are you all sure you're up for this?" Sally asked nervously. They were all standing out in the Great Forest so as not to be followed by the villagers. Sally and Antoine were stood facing the others in the clearing.

Sonic noticed that nobody answered.

"Hey, if you can't do it it's o.k. I know this is a biggie for you all…" He told them. He didn't want them to risk their lives just because he was doing. They had to want to do it for Tails' sake.

"I'm ready." Knuckles said. Actually, he was feeling pretty calm about the whole situation which surprised him.

Sonic looked to the other two. He realised that they weren't really ready at all.

"Sal, I don't think that Bunnie and Rotor should do this. That Aurora thing said that we would have to be ready to risk our lives if we were going to get Tails back and I'm not sure they are." Sonic said.

Sally thought about this for a moment.

"Are you sure that you are capable of doing this of your own free will. I won't let you go just because you think that Sonic needs you. It doesn't work like that." She finally said.

There was a long pause from Bunnie and Rotor which gave Sally her answer.

O.k. you two. I see that you have doubts so I'm not going to let you go. Sorry guys." She told them.

Bunnie and Rotor both felt a wave of relief wash through them, closely followed by guilt.

"I'm sorry Sonic. It's just…I've been brought up to preserve life at all costs and I just can't let myself do it." Bunnie said.

"Soz guys. Its not my fault, I can't help having second thoughts. I really wanna help Tails but-" Rotor was cut off by Sonic.

"Hey. Its o.k. guys, I know it's a big thing but I've just gotta do it-I swore to Tails that I'd get him back and that's exactly what I'm gonna do." He said.

Bunnie and Rotor now walked over to Sally and Antoine's side and also faced Sonic and Knuckles. As both Sonic and Knuckles reached for the guns they had each been given, Sonic felt bad.

"Guys, ya know, maybe you shouldn't watch this. Its way past uncool." He said. He hoped that they wouldn't watch.

"Sure Sonic, Knuckles. Whatever makes this easier for you." Sally said and all four of them turned around and held hands tightly. They couldn't even bear to hear the gun shot when it came.

"See ya on the other side Knux." Sonic said as he tried to sound cheerful.

"Yeah-I hope so!" Knuckles replied. Knuckles then turned and faced Sonic and they stood like that for a while with their guns raised at the sides of their own heads.

"The count of three?" Sonic suggested.

"Sure. Bye Sonic." He replied.

"Bye Knuckles." Sonic said before starting. "One…" They both stared each other in the eye. "Two…" Sonic closed his eyes closely followed by Knuckles. "THREE!" Sonic called and each of them instantly pulled the trigger. Blood flew from them and some of it hit Sally's back. She screamed at this and made the others jump.

After a few moments of standing silently with their back's still facing away from the two, Rotor broke the silence.

"Do you think we should check their pulses…just in case?" He said in a whisper.

"Um…I guess we should." Sally replied before slowly turning towards the two who were now lying next to each other on the ground. The others turned shortly after she did. Sally dropped to her knees and started to sob erratically.

"Don't Sally…Please don't cry…" Bunnie begged before she started crying herself. Rotor walked past them to the two corpses and checked each pulse.

"I hope you made it to Tails…" He said before picking up Sonic.

"Ant…Get Knuckles." Rotor asked. Antoine just about managed to do it without being sick. He really hated blood and now there was loads of his friends' all over his body.

They managed to smuggle the two bodies back into Knothole without raising attention and placed both of them side by side on Sonic's bed. From then on, all they could do was wait and pray.

How was it? Good, bad whatever-I wanna know! REVIEW!


	15. Saving Private Prower!

Hi again kiddies…welcome to today's lesson…Just kidding! Anyhow, thanks for reviewing again people. And just to show you how thankful I am, I'm gonna reply to you each individually again:

SHADE-THE-HEDGEHOG: You're right, there's only this chapter and another one then that's it…I think. As for the rest of your review, you're just gonna have to read and find out aren't you!

JHONIC/TAILSFAN2005: ThankYOU for liking it so much, I hope this one doesn't disappoint!

SHADTIKAL4EVER: You show many signs of awsomeness too (if that's a word) for reviewing my story!

WOULDNTYOULIKETOKNOW: Thanx for putting me on ur fav authors list. I think you have won the award for the wierdest review I have ever gotten! That was mad! I appreciate it though and I DO care that I sent you on a guilt trip! Lol.

DAXTHEMETALHEAD: Thanx for thanking me for thanking you…Does that make sense! The thing is, when I wrote Aurora, I didn't know that she was a character from…Archie is it? I just decided that Aurora would be a good name and used that. She is not based on the char in the comics so she has a different personality. Soz if u thought she was out of character! Keep reviewing!

SONICRULES12: I'm glad I managed to live up to your expectations of me in this chapter. I do try my best! Thankyou for your review again. I must say though, I wasn't sure about Sonic and Knux's deaths would go down but it seems that you seemed to like it! TTFN!

HERE WE GO!

Chapter 15: Saving Private Prower… 

It was now the second afternoon since Tails had arrived in The Nothing.

"Woah, is this The Nothing?" Knuckles asked himself as he stood in complete darkness. He couldn't see Sonic yet and was beginning to wonder if Sonic was going to appear. "Sonic?" He called and his voice echoed like Tails' did when Sonic had seen him. There was no answer.

Suddenly, there was a bright light and thousands of tiny blue particles started flying together in a space close to where Knuckles was stood. Knuckles was at first worried but soon realised that this was not an ordinary place so he shouldn't expect normal things to happen. The blue particles gathered quickly and soon Knuckles saw a shape being formed. They merged together and another bright light blinded Knuckles for a moment. When he finally managed to open his eyes again, Sonic was stood where all the particles had been.

"Am I glad to see you!" Knuckles said with relief. "I thought you hadn't made it."

"Nothing is gonna stop me from getting my bro back!" Sonic replied with a smile.

"So…where do we look first?" Knuckles then asked Sonic who was looking around in the darkness.

"Um…well…last time I saw Tails, he sorta appeared in a light thing-he was glowing." Sonic said as he realised that this didn't help much.

"So are we!" Knuckles replied as he looked down at himself. Sonic also looked and noticed that Knuckles was right. They were each glowing, Sonic had a blue aura around him and Knuckles had a red one.

"So I guess Tails was glowing orange then?" Knuckles asked, putting two and two together.

"Yeah, well it was kinda goldish really." Sonic replied. "So, what should we do?" He continued.

"Er…I'm not sure!" Knuckles replied. Sonic decided to take the quickest option.

"TAILS!" He called out as loud as he could. Knuckles followed suit.

"TAILS? WHERE ARE YOU!" He shouted. There was at first no reply and Sonic was just about to shout again but a noise stopped him. There was a whooshing sort of sound and a figure with a green aura around itself began to move towards them.

"Er…Sonic, do you think that this would be a good time to get away from here?" Knuckles asked. He didn't want to take any chances with the mystery figure.

"No…lets just see what it does. It might be able to help." Sonic replied. The figure came closer and began to speak.

"I've been expecting you." It said. Both Sonic and Knuckles recognised the voice to belong to that of Aurora.

"Where is Tails?" Sonic asked. He wanted to get straight to the point.

"He is being looked after…" She replied in her eerie voice. Neither of them could figure out whether it belonged to a male of female but from the look of Aurora, they both decided upon female.

"Will you take us to him?" Knuckles asked.

"So be it." She said and both Sonic and Knuckles rose off the floor like they had seen happen to Tails in the Chaos emerald.

"Whoa!" Sonic gasped as they began to float behind Aurora. "This is totally weird dude!"

"I know what you mean!" Knuckles said back. They were moving quite quickly and soon a building began to appear through the darkness. Cunningly, it was painted black so they had to get very close before noticing it even though it was quite large. Aurora clicked her fingers and Sonic and Knuckles fell to the floor with a bump.

"OW!-What d'ya do that for!" Knuckles said. Aurora ignored him. Sonic nudged him in the side.

"Don't annoy her. Remember what she did to Tails last time Sally shouted at her?" He chastised Knuckles.

"Fine but she better warn me next time she does that!" He protested.

"Follow…" Aurora ordered. They both obliged and followed her into the building. They began to walk down various corridors which all looked the same to Sonic and Knuckles. Each one was lined with large glass windows. Through each window there was a small room containing a bed, a table and a chair. Everything in it was white including the walls and the objects. They both looked into some of the rooms as they passed and saw that some of them were occupied. They saw various animals some of which looked perfectly normal but some had injuries which looked bad. 

Knuckles looked into a window and saw another creature. The figure had a feature which Knuckles knew only belonged to one other creature on Mobius. She had two tails.

"Sonic look at that! It's that kitsune that Tails went out with! Remember, she died a when Robotnik gave her that disease!" Knuckles ran over to the glass and shouted.

"Carla! Carla It's Knuckles!" He shouted but she could not hear him.

"She cannot see or hear you." Aurora said. Knuckles then realised that the glass must be one of those funny mirrors that you could look through from one side but the other was just a mirror. After passing several other 'cages', Sonic realised something bad.

"Why are they all children?" He asked.

"Because by the time you have become an adult, you hardly ever have a completely clean conscience." Aurora replied. Sonic thought about this for a while. Did he still have a clean conscience? He didn't think so.

They continued walking for several minutes and made various twists and turns along the way but finally, Aurora stopped outside a room. It was slightly different to the others. As well as the white walls and furniture, there was also a quantity of monitors and a smaller table which had pills and syringes on it. Before Sonic or Knuckles had chance to ask, Aurora answered them.

"Do not worry. There are several rooms like this one along the corridor. We have monitors in there for the creatures who endured injuries over a period of time instead of just once."

"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked-he hadn't been paying much attention.

"Well, most of the creatures in here have had an accident which killed them therefore, they only usually receive one set of injuries. But in some cases, the creature, in this case Tails, is receiving injuries at regular intervals." She explained.

"How often?" Sonic asked.

"Well, the staff here have monitored his condition and have recorded that he seems to receive more injuries every 30 minutes." She replied.

"I hate Robotnik." Sonic said. "Every 30 minutes." He repeated.

"Yes…I'm surprised really that he lasted the three days." Aurora said. All three of them looked in through the mirror and watched Tails. He was sat in the very corner of the room with his knees hugged to his chest. It was only the second day but he had still received many cuts and bruises that covered his tiny body. He rocked back and forth slowly in the corner with a fearful expression on his face. His eyes darted from left to right at every noise he heard.

"When is it due to happen again?" Knuckles asked.

"In around 5 minutes. It is up to you to decide whether you want to see it or not. I assure you, it is rather distressing but also quite interesting at the same time." Aurora said. She wanted them to stay and witness what happened to Tails because she knew from experience that the distress it would cause Sonic and Knuckles would make them more determined to get him back. Before either of them could answer, a ferret and a rabbit entered through a door that neither of them had seen before as it was pained the same colour as the walls. They came into Tails' room and began to remove the table, chair and bed. After they had done this, they came over to Tails who looked up at them nervously. Sonic could see that he was shaking with fear. The voices in the room came over through a com system above Knuckles' head.

"I'm sorry Tails, you know the routine by now." The ferret said. Tails just continued to rock back and forth in the corner.

"Tails honey, I'm afraid you can't stay in the corner. You could get hurt." The rabbit said as it crouched in front of him. It then took his hand and Tails let himself be led to the centre of the room. He then sat back down and buried his head in his knees.

"I'm gonna get hurt anyway." He said. The two orderlies just gave each other a glance.

"I know honey. I'm sorry." The female rabbit said before they both left the room leaving Tails on his own.

"I wish Sonic was here…" He sobbed as he burst into tears.

Sonic felt like crying himself.

"Aurora, can I go in there and stay with him?" He asked.

"I'm sorry Sonic but it is far too dangerous." She replied.

"What do you mean?" He asked in a confused state.

"You will find out soon enough." She simply stated.

Sonic went and pressed his hands up to the glass. Tails continued crying.

"Sonic…where are you?" He mumbled again between sobs.

"I'm right here Tails…I'm right here…" Sonic replied even though he knew Tails couldn't hear him.

Knuckles felt really bad for them both right now. Over the last few days, it seemed like his conscience had grown a lot and he was experiencing feelings of compassion and sadness which he would have just repressed earlier. He went over to Sonic and put his hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"Hey Sonic…We'll get him outta there." He said in a comforting voice that Sonic had never heard him use before.

"So you do have feelings!" Sonic said quietly. Knuckles blushed.

"Well ya better not tell anyone-I have a reputation to protect you know." He replied with a slight smile. This made Sonic smile too but they were both wiped away as they saw what had started to happen on the other side of the glass.

Tails suddenly was thrown back into a laid down position and each arm flew back behind him until it looked like he was being stretched out by an invisible force. Knuckles then realised what was happening.

"Sonic, maybe it's best you don't watch this time." He started.

"Why?" Sonic asked as Tails began writhing and squirming in his position. He seemed unable to move.

"Because I know what is going to happen here-I have already seen it and trust me it's not pretty!" He said.

"I've got to be there for him-I'm staying and that's that." Sonic said.

"Well you go ahead but I can't bear to watch it again. I've already seen it happen once and that was bad enough. This is one of the worst one's." Knuckles replied as he turned towards Aurora.

"You really think that Sonic is going to find this interesting! Watching his best friend get mutilated right in front of him!" Knuckles said to Aurora.

"It could help the situation." Was all she said. Knuckles didn't really know what she meant.

Sonic watched in horror as he realised what was happening. Tails must be tied down to something.

"Let me go!" Tails shouted. There was a moment of silence and Sonic could tell that Tails was being talked to. Tails could hear it but no one else could.

"No! I'll never tell you where it is! I promised Sonic I would never tell." Tails yelled at whatever he could see. Sonic began to wish that he hadn't made Tails promise him that.

"NO! SONIC! DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE SONIC! PLEASE!" Sonic heard Tails begging and crying through the radio.

"Snively told him that Mecha Sonic was you robotocized. That is who Tails is shouting at." Knuckles explained. Now Sonic understood what was happening.

"I can't believe he would do something so mean!" Sonic said as he watched Tails' eyes widen in fear and then he turned his head away and closed his eyes as tightly as he could.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Tails let out an ear splitting scream as a horrified Sonic tried to make sense of what he had just seen. Several large gashes had just opened up on Tails' skin from nowhere.

"God Sonic! Please help me!" Tails begged as his body was thrown from side to side like he was being hit with an invisible force. Sonic looked on with his eyes wide at what he saw. This was worse than what he had seen in his dream-it was reality. Then Sonic was nearly sick when he saw Tails' arm snap before his eyes shortly followed by each of his other limbs.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" Sonic yelled.

"Mecha is doing it to him coz he wouldn't tell where Knothole is" Knuckles shouted over Tails' screams. Tails then went silent as he fell unconscious with the pain.

"I have to go get him!" Sonic said as he started to run towards the door from which the orderlies had left. Aurora suddenly stopped him by raising from the ground again.

"Hey!" Sonic protested but she didn't let him down.

"Sorry hedgehog but it isn't that simple." She began. "Come…" She ordered and Sonic floated behind Aurora. Knuckles decided to go with them. He took one look back at Tails who was still lying un-conscious on the floor and saw the two orderlies enter the room again with needles. They must want to give him some medicine he thought to himself before turning back and walking off in the direction Sonic and Aurora had taken. However, before he had got very far, Knuckles realised that he had just been given the perfect opportunity.

He stopped mid-stride. What was stopping him from going to get Tails now? Why couldn't he just go and get him, take him to a safe place, then get Sonic and leave? He pondered this for a while. He knew there were problems with the plan. Firstly, where was he going to take Tails for him not to be found? Secondly, how was he going to get Sonic without alerting Aurora? Thirdly, how do they get back to Knothole?

Knuckles decided to cross those obstacles when he came to them. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. He began to walk quietly around to the side of Tails' cell, to the side where the door was. The orderlies had already left so it was easy enough for him to get in without being seen.

Once inside, Knuckles walked over to the table which had now been replaced in the room. He looked over the various medicines, syringes and pills that were on it. He quickly grabbed as many as he could and put them in a small bag that he carried over his shoulder. –Tails could need them. Inside his bag already were a medical kit, a jacket, a radio and a gun. He took out the jacket to make room for the medicines. Knuckles turned when a small noise broke his concentration.

"Tails?" He asked as he rushed up to Tails who was beginning to wake up. Tails opened his eyes and saw Knuckles looking down at him with a concerned expression.

"What…what are you doing here?" He asked in surprise.

"I'll explain all that later, first we need to get you out of here." Knuckles replied as he eased his strong arms underneath Tails and lifted him gently.

"How do you feel?" Knuckles asked. It sounded like a stupid question but Tails didn't seem to be in any pain so Knuckles was confused.

"Um…pretty good really, I don't hurt much if that's what you mean." Tails replied as Knuckles began to carry from the room.

"It's probably those drugs they give you. Do you know anywhere we can hide til' I can get Sonic?" Knuckles said.

"Well, before I got put in here, I was wanderin' around for a while and I found out something; you can get rid of these light things that surround us by running-it's like you out run them or something." Tails said. 

"That could help if Aurora tries to find us." Knuckles replied thoughtfully. "But it's goin' to be hard to run around with you in my arms." He continued.

The pair continued walking through the place. Every now and again Tails told him to take a left or a right.

"How do you know where you are going?" Knuckles asked.

"I can smell the outside." Tails simply replied. Well, he was a fox-that's what they did wasn't it? Knuckles thought as they carried on. Once reaching outside, they both went a little way into the darkness and stopped for a rest.

"What time is it?" Tails suddenly asked with a nervous tone in his voice. Knuckles soon realised why Tails was so worried.

"Er…you have about another 15 minutes." He replied. He saw Tails look to the floor then back up at him. At the same time he realised that Tails had around 3 hours for them to save him left.

"Well I suppose I'd better explain…" Tails started.

"I saw it." Knuckles said before he could begin.

"Oh…" Tails replied quietly. He looked into Knuckles eyes. "Knuckles…Um…well when it happens again…will you stay with me?" He asked. Knuckles wondered why Tails thought that he would leave him.

"'Course I will." He replied in a comforting tone that made Tails feel a little better.

Knuckles proceeded to take his radio from his bag and turned it on. He wondered whether to try to contact Sonic if he was still with Aurora. He decided that he could ask where he was without telling him that he had Tails. He pressed the speaker button down.

"Sonic…you there?" He asked into it. Static was all that could be heard for a few moments but then an unmistakable voice was heard over the radio. It made Tails' heart do a back flip-Now that Sonic was around; everything was going to be o.k.

"Hey Knux what's up?" Sonic said.

"Are ya still with Aurora?" 

"Nope. She went to see Carla for some reason. She left me waiting here. How is Tails?" Sonic asked. He thought that Knuckles was still in there next to Tails' cell.

"He's woke up. He's outside with me now." Knuckles replied.

"What d'ya mean?" Sonic asked confused.

"I mean while you were messing about in there, I was busy getting Tails out of there." Knuckles replied then placed the radio up to Tails' mouth so he could speak into it.

"Hey Sonic!" Tails called happily.

"Hey lil' guy! I'm coming out right now. You o.k.?" He replied trying to sound cheerful.

"Sure Sonic. See you soon!" Tails said before hearing the click of Sonic's radio on the other side.

As Sonic went to leave, Aurora watched over him through her telepathic mind. A small smile reached the corners of her lips. Her plan was going well. Aurora thought over it in her mind.

Aurora wasn't really a bad person. She had planned to show them the state Tails was in so they felt more compelled to save him quickly. She left Knuckles alone as she knew what he would do. Her job was to help those who came here to rescue their loved one's but she was unable of telling them exactly how to do it. They had to care for the individual enough to be able to think of a plan to save him. Aurora just helped that along slightly. 

Sighing, she turned back to Carla. No one had saved her. Her disease had caused her a long and drawn out death. Aurora felt pity for the young fox. She was so beautiful. Her snow-white fur and black tipped ears only seemed to accentuate her deep blue eyes. Why did people like Robotnik continue to live whilst hundreds of innocent children arrived in the Nothing every day?

Carla gazed up at her with sorrowful eyes. Aurora thought to herself and realised that there was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

"Carla, I am going to telepathically send you somewhere now. I can't tell you where but you will find out soon enough." She said with a loving gaze in her eyes. "I don't EVER want to see you here again o.k.?" She finished with a smile.

Carla looked confused for a moment but smiled back anyway. After her short speech, Aurora closed her eyes in concentration and a blinding white aura began to form around Carla. She slowly faded from vision and as soon as she could no longer be seen, Aurora opened her eyes…

I'm not too happy with this chapter, there's just something wrong with it. I think that they got away too easy. I know that Aurora was really letting them go without Knukles knowing it but still…Oh I don't know! I bet I get some 'constructive' critisism for this chapter though! Lol. Ok, only one chapter left now…Are you all going to miss me! I hope so. I want to warn you though, it IS going to have a NICE ending-Just so that you gore lovers know. Well, I couldn't put all that yuckiness in there and then not have a happy ending for poor Sonic and co. Could I! Please review-It would make my week! Oh yeah, sorry about the TINY use of a fan-char, I just wanted someone named after myself in one of my fics for some reason. She is in the next chapter a little bit so please don't flame me…In case you havent guessed, my real first name is Carla! Lol.


	16. Happily Ever After

Well hello there! Long time no see huh! No seriously though, I really am sorry about that-the life of Tailslover666 is never boring! As you all may well know by now…sniff…this is the FINAL chapter of A Dream Come True. GOD I'm getting all emotional typing this. I really am going to miss all of you-especially those of you who have reviewed me from the start…you know who you are! I really don't know if this fic ended how I wanted it to but I guess you lot can be the judges of that. I have been asked a couple of times if I am going to carry on writing after this fic and my honest answer is that I don't know. Like I said, there always seems to be some drama unfolding in my life that needs attending to and I know that it's mean to keep you all waiting for chapters and stuff so maybe I'll wait for a more peaceful time before writing again. I dunno, why don't you lovely lot tell me what you what you want me to do? Anyway, this is Tailslover666 saying goodbye for the very last time. If you wanna mail me my addy is: miss you…xxx

Shade…Firstly, thankyou very much for reviewing me for so long. It's really nice to hear from you every chapter! Unfortunately for you gore lovers, (Not to give too much away)I decided that Tails did deserve a bit of a break seeing as it is the last chapter so I dunno if you'll like this one. I hope so…

Wouldn'tYouLikeToKnow…I REALLY loved this review. It was just so toutching! It's always good to be told that I rock! Lol. Like I said, dunno if I'll write again. I guess it depends on the responses I get. You can mail me if you like!

SonicRules12…I know what you mean about the straightforwardness and to me, this fic hasn't really gone totally to plan towards the end so please be leniant! Nice of you to be honest though and thankyou so much for staying with me through it all!

Pyro…I really do believe that awesomeness should be added to the dictionary if it hasn't been already! I believe that your reviews are pure awesomeness too so there we go…we're both equally awesome! Lol.

Odairu64…(I think Iv'e spelt that right! Lol) I can't believe that I really made you cry! I'm so glad that Iv'e touched someone like that. It's really lovely. Thankyou.

DC…It was so sweet of you to read my fic just because I reviewed one of yours. There really is still some politeness in this world isn't there? Thankyou so much.

Sorry about the length of this A/N, I just had to make sure I said goodbye to you all properly before I went….Until we meet again-LET'S DO IT TO IT!

CHAPTER 16:Happily Ever After… 

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles opened their eyes and realised that they were no longer in the Nothing. Seconds earlier, a large falling sensation passed through each of them as they felt the floor disappear from under them. A scream from each of them and three small bumps later, they found themselves in the centre of the Great Forest. The Ring pool was to their left and it was stunningly beautiful in the sunset. All three just sat in silence for a while, regaining their sense of reality and staring at the golden reflection on the water. Through the trees, the last minutes of the setting sun could be seen. The pink-rimmed ball of fire was also amazing to see.

"Hey buddy! You look good!" Knuckles commented as he looked at the now completely normal looking Tails. Tails looked down at himself.

"Hey! I can move!" He squealed in ecstasy as he began to jump up and down, waving his arms around frantically.

"Hey lil' bro! Calm down or you'll break them again!" Sonic told him. Tails calmed down momentarily but soon regained his excitement and dived head first into the ring pool. The remaining pair on the bank just watched happily as the golden ripples flooded around Tails.

"I'm glad he's alright." Knuckles said.

"Yeah...I dunno what I'd do without him around." Sonic replied with a smile. Tails flew up into the air and let himself fall back into the water with a splash-soaking them all.

"Hey!" Both Sonic and Knuckles yelled. The water seemed cold but Tails didn't notice it.

"Soz guys. What a-" Tails suddenly broke off his silence and stared past the other two with an awed expression. Sonic and Knuckles both turned to see what he was looking at and then saw a white figure emerge from behind a tree.

"Oh my God!" Tails whispered.

A small figure bathed in a blinding white aura began to move slowly towards them. Tails instantly knew who it was. As the aura began to fade, two white bushy tails could be seen trailing behind her. Each tail was tipped a smoky black shade.

Sonic and Knuckles both looked back to Tails who was still staring at Carla totally stunned. He then broke out of his trance and ran as fast as he could between Sonic and Knuckles towards her, arms outstretched. Carla stopped and waited for him to reach her with a huge smile. He got there quickly and embraced her, knocking both of them to the floor. He was wet through but neither of them cared. Sonic and Knuckles watched this and then instinctively turned to each other and smiled.

"Could this day get any better!" Sonic said. He was overjoyed to see Tails so happy. Both of them could almost literally see another aura emerge from both of them. Love filled the forest and Tails lifted Carla into his arms. She held on around his neck and he began to take off. Soon they were both sailing smoothly back to Knothole. Sonic and Knuckles followed their path with their eye's as they saw them disappear off into the perfect sunset.

"It's like watchin' a movie or something!" Knuckles said as they both got up and began to jog back to Knothole.

"Thank you Aurora!" Sonic said as he looked up to the sky once more.

They arrived first and raced into Sally's hut eager to tell her the great news. The Freedom Fighters all stopped talking as two damp looking figures entered the hut. Smiles of relief lit up the room for a moment.

"I'm so glad you're back!" Sally said as she hugged Sonic. Sonic blushed.

"Sal! I told you I would come back didn't I!" He replied as he straightened his quills back where Sally had ruffled them.

"Where…where's…" Bunnie began to ask but stopped. She was too afraid to ask the question as she was too afraid to hear the answer.

"He's fine! And there's an extra surprise going to be coming home with him!" Knuckles said with a laugh.

"What do you mean?" Sally began to ask but before an answer could be given, a HUGE cheer erupted from outside.

Speech was silenced once more.

All the Freedom Fighters rushed to the door and burst outside. The whole street was lined with villagers and as soon as they all managed to push their way to the front to see, they noticed what they were cheering for.

Tails was just landing on the ground carrying an over-joyed Carla in his arms. 

They could take it no longer. The Freedom Fighters all rushed up to them both and gave them a group hug. Tears streamed down Tails' face as they were all reunited once again. But no longer were they tears of pain, torture, sadness or anguish; they were tears of pure relief, happiness and love.

The next day, a huge party was held in honour of Sonic and Knuckles' bravery and the safe return of Tails. Carla was also praised and greeted many a time. She was so glad to be back. All she had thought about whilst in the Nothing was Tails and now he was back with her, her love had only blossomed.

As the festivities went on, Sonic returned to his hut and sat on his bed. For a reason that he didn't totally understand, a tear slipped down his face. He thought back to the good times he and Tails had had together and wondered whether now that Tails had Carla, things would be the same. Whilst thinking about this, a figure crept in. Sonic was too lost in thought to notice him. It was only when Sonic looked up into the sparkling aquamarine eyes of his best friend that he knew he wasn't alone.

"Sonic…I know." Tails started.

"You know what?" Sonic asked back quietly.

"I know what you're thinking because I was wondering the same thing about you and Knuckles. I wondered that now you had him to go on missions with, if you would still want me." He continued.

Sonic just looked at him. Eventually, Tails spoke again.

"But then I realised that I would NEVER let anything come between us Sonic. Just like you wouldn't let Robotnik come between us even though you thought I was dead. You know I would do the same for you don't you?"

"I know lil' bro… I know…" Sonic said as he reached over to hug his brother. "Now, lets ditch this party and burn some rubber!" He continued as they both began to run outside. As soon as they reached the street, they both set off at a sprint. Bunnie looked on again as she had done so many times before. The memory still seemed fresh to her. As Sonic and Tails ran side by side around Knothole like they had no cares in the world, the rest of the Freedom Fighters, including the newly appointed Carla, joined Bunnie's watch. As the duo became a blue and orange blur running into the sunset, a smile reached each of their faces.

"Welcome back you two, Knothole missed ya'." Bunnie said as the others all linked arms and watched until Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles 'Tails' Prower, became a single speck on the horizon then disappeared together into the now crimson sunset…..seconds later, an enormous explosion rocked the ground where the Freedom Fighter's stood. They were knocked to the ground and when they stood up, all they were able to see was a huge mushroom cloud in the exact spot where Tails ad Sonic had been running mere seconds ago. Sally gasped and covered her mouth in shock…..

THE END…FOR NOW…


End file.
